Evening star., 1943-11-28
'Ingis Fletcher
Here to Make
North Carolina
ToHonor Novelist
On Wednesday
BY JESSIE FAINT EVANS.

Inglis Fletcher, whose two recent
American historical novels, "Ra-
leigh's Eden," and Men of Abe
marie" are favorites with civilians
and servicemen Is spending the
winter in Washington to be within
walking distance of the Library of
Congress. With her is her husband,
John G. Fletcher, retired engineer,
who has. just come from a special
Government assignment as director
OF shipyard training at the Whining
ton, N. c., shipbuilding Co.
The North Carolina Art Society is
honoring Inglis Fletcher for the dis
tinction she has bestowed on the
State, through her historical novels
dealing with its Colonial annals, by
having her receive with Gov. and
Mrs. Melville Brough at its annual
meeting in Raleigh on Wednesday
On Thursday, she will be the prin-
cipal speaker before the session OF
the State Historical and Literary
Society. Her topic viii be "The His
torical Novel and Its Significance.
Begins Third Book.
Now at work on her third book on
North Carolina's Colonial history
Mrs. Fletcher and her husband lived
last summer on the Clarendon Plan
tation, established in 172O, and still
in the hands of the family of the
original patentees. There, in the
midst Of the raising of pigs and
peanuts, Mrs. Fletcher absorbed the
leisurely charm of that country
which she is portraying in the his
torical novel she expects to have
ready for her publishers by early
spring.
At Edenton. N. c., she and her
husband recently were donors, to the
Colonial Assembly Room of the
Chowan Courthouse of portrait
Of George Monk, Duke of Albemarle
for whom Albemarle Sound was
named. One of the eight lord pro-
prietors of Colonial Carolina, he
headed the government during the
Great Plague in London. Subse-
quently he was admiral of the
British Fleet. incidentally, this por-
ton of North Carolina is the land
of Ingls Fletcher's own forebears.
Inglis Fletcher has no magic
formula for literary output. She
says Of herself, Il belong to the
perspiration, perseverance ranks. =
1t took her six years to complete
"Raleigh's Eden" 1t was written first
in long hand and rewritten four
times by the same laborious process
before she was willing to submit it
for alteration. Between the time of
its publication and that of its sue
cessor, Men of Albemarle," she
has managed to teach herself the
"hunt-and-peck" style on a portable
typewriter.
Both "Ralelgh's Eden" and Men
of Albemarle" have been brought
out in Great Britain, where they
are considered authentic pictures
OF the colonizing ventures in North
Carolina. They have also recently
been serialized in Sweden and
translated into both Danish and
Norwegian.
Travelled In Africa.
Her forthcoming book will deal
with pirate adventuring in the Ba-
hamas and on our southern coastal
waters with the gallant and sue
cessful efforts Of British and Amer
ican seamen to defend the free
dom Of the seas then as now.
Before going over into the field
of the historical novel, Inglis
Fletcher wrote White Leopard. -
which first appeared in Boys
Life and subsequently won the
Junior Literary Guild Prize in the
adventure class for young people
Both White Leopard" and a sub
sequent story. Red Jasmine" were
the aftermath of an expedition