+ Springf’d Republican p11a My 9 ’20 280w
MCCUTCHEON, GEORGE BARR. West wind drift. *$2 (2c) Dodd
20–18655
The Doraine, in the treacherous days of the war, sailed one day from a South American port carrying a thousand souls. And from that day she was never seen again, and was eventually reported lost with all on board. But two German spies might have given a fuller report if they had told of their work before they dropped off onto the launch that was awaiting them in the middle of the South Atlantic. The Doraine was left to helplessly drift, at the mercy of wind and tide. So finally she was borne to the shores of an uninhabited island. And there the six hundred or so human beings who had survived the rigors and exposure of the trip, landed and made a settlement. All the elements in human nature which men are familiar with in normal circumstances made themselves felt here, capacity for leadership, love, jealousy, temptation, treachery, justice, but strongest of all, hope in the future. Algernon Adonis Percival, in spite of his name and the fact that he was a stowaway on the doomed ship, is the strongest character of all, and his career is the most interesting as he rises to the governorship in quite Admirable Crichton style.
+ Booklist 17:117 D ’20 Boston Transcript p8 D 11 ’20 210w
“George Barr McCutcheon, the facile creator of mythical kingdoms, has invented a new ‘Swiss Family Robinson’ quite stupendous enough for production by Mr Griffith.”
+ N Y Evening Post p10 N 6 ’20 150w
“There is a straightaway yarn, which, if not particularly original or strikingly dramatic, at least leads one logically from the first chapter to the last with the feeling that one has been in company of a good-humored entertainer. Brightly written throughout, Mr McCutcheon’s latest novel is worthy of his reputation.”
+ N Y Times p25 D 26 ’20 480w