Book Review: Sitka by Louis L’Amour

Whoa! I am so sorry, readers. I did not mean to be tardy, but Life decided to throw me a few curve balls. It feels like a couple of months passed in the course of a few weeks! Whew!

Okay, since I am late, I will skip the pleasantries and get down to business. Today’s subject is a novel by Louis L’Amour, as you can see from the picture above. It is not one of the Westerns he is so famous for, though parts of the story do take place in San Francisco. The rest of the action occurs at sea, in Alaska – and in Russia!

The book starts with a young Jean LaBarge waiting outside the “the Great Swamp,” which is in an unspecified part of the Susquehanna region, for his best friend Robert “Rob” Walker to arrive. Specifically, he is waiting beside a big Cyprus tree called “The Honey Tree.” A number of bee colonies have constructed their hives in the dead tree, and though Jean has tried to think of a way to pry the valuable sweetener out, none of his notions has been worth the risk of being stung to death. Nor has it been worth the risk of losing the tantalizing prize.

An orphan, Jean only knows what his mother told him about his father before she died. The man went west to hunt and trap, but she believed he would return home soon. While Jean has heard some faint reports of him, however, his father has yet to come home. So in all likelihood, the senior LaBarge is dead as well.

Though his uncle took care of him for a few weeks, he eventually left, which means that Jean is a poor boy who has been living in the Great Swamp alone for several years. He has not told the townspeople this fact, as he wishes to avoid being swept off to live with a strange family in their equally strange home. The idea of landing in a workhouse appeals to him even less, so he keeps up the fiction that his uncle is staying with him even though the man has wandered away to spend his life elsewhere – possibly in dissipation.

While waiting for Rob to arrive, Jean happens to look down – and stop. There is a boot print in the mud near the Honey Tree. No one from the village comes to the Great Swamp except for him and Rob. And Rob never goes without Jean, since he knows the area less well than the bigger boy does.

More disturbing, however, is the fact that this print belongs to a stranger. Jean is familiar with the tracks left by every denizen in the village. He would recognize them anywhere in or about town, especially this close to his home. But this track does not belong to anyone he knows.

As soon as Rob arrives, Jean asks him if he saw anyone headed into the Swamp. Pointing out the boot print, the budding frontiersman explains it does not belong to a local, which piques the other boy’s interest. Curious as to who would be poking around his Swamp, Jean heads in, Rob trailing behind. The two fall to talking and Rob suggests the print may belong to one of the Carters.

Jean is made nervous by that suggestion. The Carters were a murderous band of robbers that lived near the area and are infamous for their brutal killings. For most of Jean and Rob’s lives, they have been absent from the area. But if the track does, in fact, belong to one of them…. Jean lives in the Swamp and relies on it to survive. If the Carters are back, he has to know so he can raise the alarm and keep his home safe.

The two boys eventually reach an old stone house built in the middle of the Swamp. Jean has been here several times before, and on the most recent visit, he found the ashes of a fire. This time, while Rob watches from the brush, he creeps up to the house for another look. Peering through a window, he spies not only a fire but three men who look less than friendly. He turns to join the other boy so they can go warn the town –

And accidentally steps on a twig.

Quick as lightning the outlaws are outside. They grab Jean and pull him into the house, missing Rob, who remained in his hiding place. Knowing his friend was overlooked, Jean stalls for time, hoping his friend will remember the path he showed him out of the mire and back to the road.

Rob does remember it, and his father believes his story enough to take him to town. There, with the help of a mountain man the Carters planned to murder and steal from, the older Walker assembles a posse to rescue Jean. Determined to make sure his friend is safe, Rob goes with the men. On their way there the band encounters the Carters heading for their chosen place of ambush. They arrest three, but a fourth member who arrived while Rob was seeking help escapes to go back and kill Jean LaBarge.

With a plan to avoid being murdered already in place, Jean is quick enough to get out of the house when the remaining Carter comes to get him. He escapes and his pursuer is shot by the mountain man, who takes a shine to Jean and makes the older boy his partner. Meanwhile, Rob stays in town to pursue his education. Over time, one man rises in the world of law and politics while the other breaks new ground in the West…and learns of a rich land to the north. Owned by Russia, that land is named Alaska.

I won’t spoil the rest of the story, readers. While L’Amour’s writing quality is always good, Sitka has to be somewhere in his top twenty best tales, if not the top ten. Jean is a fine companion to travel with, and while I would have liked to see more of Rob, he does get to play a vital role in the story. He just isn’t as present as this blogger would have preferred.

Sitka is a rip-roaring good ride, but you don’t need to take my word for it! Pick the book up today and see what you think of it. It is a relative novelty among L’Amour’s works, so if you do not want to start with his Westerns, Sitka is probably one of his books that would suit you just fine. 😉

‘Til next time!

The Mithril Guardian

Book Review: That Fine Summer by Ella Manuel

That Fine Summer, by Ella Manuel, is a short children’s book set in Fox Cove, Newfoundland. Never heard of Newfoundland? I am not terribly surprised; The Rock, as her people call her, is not the most popular tourist destination in the world.

Newfoundland was discovered by Norsemen and colonized by them at the turn of the Dark Ages, if my memory serves me correctly. But it was not until after Christopher Columbus discovered America that a more permanent colony was set up. Over time English, Scottish, and Irish settlers came to Newfoundland to make their living on the bountiful cod, as well as the natural wealth of the rugged island itself. By the twentieth century, Newfoundland was its own island nation. I do not know the year, but Canada eventually annexed the island through Confederation.

I believe That Fine Summer is set before Confederation, back when Newfoundland was an independent country. In this short novel, Mahala “Malie” Jacobs marches out to her Grandfather’s house in a right fury. When asked what the matter is, she tells him that her mother has made her wear a new dress and a new set of shoes first thing in the morning.

Mahala is a tomboy who likes to go fishing and sailing, things she can only really do with her Grandfather. Her mother, her grandfather’s only child, wants Mahala to act and dress like a proper lady. The only things the two agree on are that they love each other, they love Grandfather, and they are ardent piano players.

That evening, Mahala’s mother springs another unwelcome surprise on her daughter. She tells Malie that they are going to St. John’s, the capitol city of Newfoundland, for the summer.

Malie is thunderstruck. She does not want to go to the city. She wants to stay in Fox Cove with her grandfather, fishing, exploring the beaches, and just having fun in her own native place. She has had it all planned out for the last few months.

This leads to an explosive family argument, and Malie goes to the person who understands her best to solve the dilemma: Grandfather. Grandfather talks to Mahala’s mother and convinces her to let Malie stay with him throughout the summer… That fine summer.

I’ll not spoil the rest of the book for you, readers. It is a sweet little story, with lots of local color and language. If you do not understand the Newfoundland slang, the BREAKWATER edition has a short glossary of Newfoundland expressions included in it. But between the jigs and the reels, the story should be easy for children to read and understand.

Have fun fishing for this book and learning about The Rock, readers!

Horatio Hornblower, the TV Series

Generally, when I find a film based on a book, I try to read the book as well as watch the film.  This is what I did when I learned that Howl’s Moving Castle began life as a novel; I read the book.

Sometimes I enjoy the book and film equally, while at other times I enjoy the book more than the film.  This is the case with the Hunger Games trilogy.  The cinematographers for the films did not do the books true justice on a number of levels – and there was no need to make Mockingjay into two films.  No need at all.

There are times, however, when I prefer what I see to what can be read.  In the case of the Horatio Hornblower television series, this is what happened.  Though I may someday read the books, I think that I will probably always enjoy the TV series over the novels.

I first saw the Hornblower series when it aired on PBS’ Masterpiece Theater.  I do not remember how old I was.  I know I was young enough not to understand some of what was said or implied in certain cases.  There is nothing wrong with that, of course; I enjoyed the adventure and got the gist of the important dialogue.  For a child, it is enough.

The novels starring Horatio Hornblower were written by C. S. Forester in the 1930s and possibly into perhaps the 1950s.  They star the fictional hero Horatio Hornblower, a young captain in His Majesty’s navy.  Forester eventually worked back from Hornblower’s position as captain to show how he rose through the ranks, and this is where the television series starts.

In the late 1700s, after America has won her independence from Great Britain, Horatio Hornblower becomes a midshipman aboard His Majesty’s ship, the Justinian, in order to pay a debt that his father owes.  The captain of the Justinian is a friend of Dr. Hornblower, and so he accepts Horatio as a midshipman with facility.

The day he gets aboard the Justinian is a wet, grey day.  Having never been aboard a ship before, Horatio has a little trouble holding down his dinner and throws up when he is introduced to the other midshipmen aboard the vessel.  Two of these – an older man named Clayton and a man about his own age, Midshipman Archie Kennedy (Jamie Bamber) – soon become fast friends with the seventeen year old Hornblower.

Aside from this incident, Hornblower finds the world of the navy to be pretty decent.  At least until the most senior midshipman, a bully named Jack Simpson, returns to the Justinian.  Simpson is about thirty and still a midshipman; at the time, a midshipman could start out as young as eleven.  The senior officers tutored the midshipmen in the arts of seamanship, tactics, and navigation until they could earn the rank of lieutenant.  Unfortunately, Simpson is as dumb as a stump when it comes to mathematics.  He could not navigate a bathtub, let alone the oceans.  Worse, he is a bully and a coward, and he takes out his frustration at being forever a midshipman on the other, younger midshipmen, who are all terrified of him.

All except for the new midshipman.  Hornblower is not afraid to stand up to Simpson, which is bad enough.  But when he also proves to be far and away the best at mathematics aboard the Justinian, Simpson turns up the heat on him.  Life aboard ship becomes almost intolerable, and when Simpson insults Hornblower during a card game, the young midshipman decides to try and rid both the ship and the navy of this scourge by challenging him to a duel.

His challenge shames Clayton who, knowing Hornblower will lose the match, knocks him out and takes his place.  Though he wings Simpson, Clayton himself is badly injured and dies of his wounds not long after.  The day he dies is also the day King Louis XVI is beheaded in France, leading England into war with the French Republic.

This leads Hornblower, Archie, and the other Midshipmen to be transferred to His Majesty’s ship, Indefatigable.  The Indefatigable was a real ship, commanded by the real Sir Edmund Pellew, the captain of the frigate within the film series and the books (played by Robert Lindsey to perfection in the TV series).  Pellew tells Hornblower in no uncertain terms that he does not think much of a man who lets others fight his battles for him, before ordering him to take part in no more duels while he is aboard the Indefatigable, or “the Indy,” as the crew calls her.

In the meantime Hornblower is given command of Simpson’s division from the Justinian.  This division crew consists of Styles (Sean Gilder), a brawler who tends to leap into fights at the first opportunity; Matthews (Paul Copley), an experienced seaman and the senior member of the group; Finch, a small man who is at least as old and seasoned as Matthews, and young Oldroyd.

Hornblower finds the crew chasing down rats in the hold and betting on Styles’ ability to kill them.  Styles doesn’t do this with his hands but with his teeth; his hands are tied behind him and he has to catch and kill the rats with his mouth.

This sort of sport is not allowed aboard ship, of course, and Hornblower makes it clear that while he commands their division, Matthews, Styles, and the rest will not play these games anymore.  Not long after this the Indy captures her first French prize, but Hornblower is not above deck for the engagement because a member of his division is injured in the fight and he helps take the man down to sickbay.  He later distinguishes himself in battle, after a fashion, earning Pellew’s interest.  But Hornblower’s happiness aboard the Indy is dimmed when, coming to the rescue of a sinking British ship, he himself ends up helping a bedraggled Simpson to safety.

The episode reaches its climax in another duel between Hornblower and Simpson, which Simpson does not walk away from.  For this reason, in the U.S. the first episode of the Hornblower series is called “The Duel.”  In England it is known as “The Even Chance.”

There are eight episodes in the Hornblower series.  Starring Ioan Gruffudd as Horatio Hornblower, this was my first introduction to the actor.  Later, when he was tapped to play Mr. Fantastic in the Fantastic Four films, the first words out of my mouth on seeing him were, “That’s Hornblower!”  And so it has remained.  Whether he appears in 102 Dalmatians or the latest remake of The Jungle Book, the first words I say on seeing him are, “There’s Hornblower!”  It is lucky for me that he loves the character so much!

I enjoy the first four episodes of the Hornblower series more than the last four.  There is a joi de vive they have which the following four lack.  For this reason I prefer them to the sequels.  Still, whichever half of the set you enjoy more, you ought to try the series if you have never seen it before.  It is well worth your time and, no matter the cost, it is a great investment if you purchase it. 😉