Evening star., 1939-01-11
New Books at
Random
BY Margaret Germond.

COLIN LoWR1E. BY Norah Lofts. New
York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Eighteenth century adventure and ro-
nance, imposed upon several colorful
backgrounds, is the sum. and substance
Of q novel that brings vividly to life
those bygone days when pirates roamed
the seven seas, when men were sold into
slavery, and when the New World was
q land of plantations. While 1t has
some historical justification, the story is
entirely flctional, and Is enjoyable for
its revival and Interpretation Of a pc
riod rather than for factual treatment
Of important events.
For purposes Of character portrayal,
Colin Lowrie might readily have been
set down in any era of world history,
for his type is not uncommon. He is
the sort OF flction-making material
adaptable to any age or location, and
the only reason in this instance for
placing him back in the long ago seems
to be that the author has q liking for
the past, has q drop of Scots-Jacobite
blood in her veins, remembers having
one time read treatise on slavery and
has knowledge Of tobacco cleaned
from small pamphlet showing how
her favorite cigarettes are made Out Of
this odd assortment of facts, plus curl
osity as to why some people survive
while others 60 down to defeat under
misfortunes, evolves the story of a mans
triumph over adversely.
Colin LoWrie is young Scot of noble
lineage who becomes involved In an
unfortunate incident following the col-
lapse of the Jacobite rebellion on the
field Of Culloden. He has endeavored
to comply with the pleas of his French
mother to take no part in the uprising,
but trouble unforeseen and unavoidable
descends upon him. Braidlowrie, the
ancestral home, is in ashes, his father
has been crippled, and the lad is suf-
fering the first pangs OF young love
when he stumbles upon man in need
OF physical care. He befriends the
man and helps him to escape from
those who seek to capture him. Glen
ranald, notorious rebel leader, is the
man.
For this offense Colin Lowrie must
flee or be hanged. He sails for the West
Indies. seeking comfort in the thought
that in foreign land there would be
opportunity to make a fortune suff1-
ciently large to enable him to return
IN reasonable time to Scotland and
70 restore Braidlowrie to its former
splendor. But further misfortune befalls
MIN. His ship is taken by pirates, who
take him to the West Indies and sell
him into slavery.
A ten-year term of bondage on a tobacco
plantation on the island of St. Crispin
lies ahead, but after the shock of re-
alizing the seriousness of his plight
young Lowrie adapts himself to his new
lie and finds that it has it's compensa-
tions. Food is plentiful, the work is not
too hard, the slaves are made comfort
aole, and Mr.. Standish, owner of the
plantation, is not brutal. Two other
white men in servitude furnish COM
panlonship OF sort with members of
his own race, and an attractive slave
girl becomes his mistress.
AS the years drag along changes take
place and many adversities beset those
on the Standish plantation. Marriage
to the daughter of Standish makes the
overseer inheritor when his father-in-
law dies, and under him hardship and
bloody cruelty prevail Finally the French
and Indian war breaks and affords
an opportunity for escape, and Lowrie
goes to Virginia, where eventually he
earns enough to buy land and set I'm
plantation of his own.
1t would seem that life had exacted
sufnclent toll from this son of a noble
family. but other woes befau him. He
falls IN love with a nun, but it is a love
which leads to disaster. Later he he
comes involved in a romance with an
odd English woman, but that affair also
has its disadvantages. Eventually Low
RE packs his belongings and sails for
home.
The sole purpose of the novel is to
present character with sufficient for
tltude to Withstand innumerable major
trials and tribulations and emerge tri-
umphant. In putting Colin Lowrie
through the PAGES of life as an exile
among strange people in a new land
Miss Lofts has successfully carried out
her idea and told an exceptionally
entertaining storv oe wall