Review:Gibbon:The Conquering Hero (L.T.R.)

Review:Sinclair:The Romantic (S.H.H.)

Review:Gibbon:The Conquering Hero (L.T.R.) written by Author:L. T. R.

Review:Hassall:History Chronologically Arranged (J.R.)

From The Canadian Forum, December 1920, p.88

The Conquering Hero, by John Murray Gibbon (S, B. Gundy, Toronto). In this somewhat hectic tale, the hero, Donald McDonald, late sergeant in the C.E.F. divides the interest with the far more romantic and striking figure of the Princess Stephanie Sobieska, — a movie star, but yet a real Princess, with a sad story in her past, and a great zeal for her dead husband's country, Poland. The story passes — not without tiresome digressions — from New Brunswick, where we see Donald as a guide, to New York whither he follows the Princess and her party to recover his D.C. medal, thence to his farm in a lovely British Columbia valley. Here our hero meets and woos his ideal maiden — "low-heeled shoes and her waist at least 33″" — but the Princess comes on the scene again, rather overshadowing the younger heroine.

One could wish that the author had made more of his opportunity to dwell on the loveliness of the scenes where his story is laid. He has not the attitude of the real lover of out-of-doors, nor have his campers. "Sports" who demand alligator pears and caviare in a New Brunswick camp leave much to be desired. But we can forgive them this much more easily than their sneers at the flapjack and bacon diet sacred to these woods.

On the whole, this loosely-constructed narrative is certain to please the reader who prefers the main emphasis on incident rather than on characterization, and who likes an easy journalistic style.

L. T. R.