20–17084
A story of Puget Sound. Jack MacRae comes home from the war to find his father dying. In a letter left to his son the father tells the story of his youth and explains the reasons for his hatred of Horace Gower. Jack also learns that he has been robbed of his inheritance by Gower, and adding his father’s grievances to his own, he sets out to compete with the rich man in the salmon industry. As an independent buyer for his friend, Stubby Abbott, a rival canner, he makes inroads on Gower’s business and soon merits the magnate’s open hostility. In the meantime Jack has fallen in love with Betty Gower and the working out of the story involves the old tangle of youthful love thwarted by family disapproval, which in the end is triumphantly overridden.
+ Booklist 17:119 D ’20
“As a student of character, Mr Sinclair is rather clever than profound. His interest lies primarily in the story he is telling and not in its setting, and, fortunately, he has the power to make us follow that story so keenly that only here and there do we miss the background.” E. A. W.
+ − Boston Transcript p4 O 20 ’20 600w
“In the telling Mr Sinclair has revealed a strange mental combination of psychologist, economist and artist. Nevertheless, ‘Poor man’s rock’ is an interesting story of an interesting phase of American endeavor.”
+ − N Y Evening Post p21 O 23 ’20 220w
“This is by far Mr Sinclair’s best novel. There is a great deal in it that is worth while, and every page is real. The theme is handled with such a blending of strength and beauty that it falls wide of the mark of maudlin sentimentality.”
+ N Y Times p26 Ja 9 ’21 520w