+ Springf’d Republican p9a O 24 ’20 150w
TOOKER, LEWIS FRANK. Middle passage. $1.90 (3c) Century
20–16345
David Lunt, a mere boy, of seafaring ancestry, ran away to sea in what turned out to be a slaver. Being a saucy and adventurous lad he tried the patience of the captain and the treatment he received aroused in him a passion for vengeance. For this reason and not from a bad heart he ships a second time in a slaver but his experiences this time close that episode. Other risky undertakings follow, just this side of crime. He is kept from overstepping the boundary line by the memory of a face back home. In his brief and infrequent visits to the home town, his love for Lydia becomes a pledge and he finally overcomes her father’s opposition by a courageous confession of his near lapses in church. The story is full of thrilling adventures and hairbreadth escapes.
Booklist 17:160 Ja ’21
“It retains a certain value as a picture of life in an era which today is as remote as Babylon. Mr Tooker is an alert and companionable story-teller—a disciple of Conrad in action, though not in atmosphere.” L. B.
+ Freeman 2:142 O 20 ’20 130w
“Certain merits lacking in many of the sea stories which come from the presses every year are possessed by this novel. In the first place, Mr Tooker knows the sea in the intimate way that a sailor knows it. Secondly, he has style, a simple and effective style.”
+ N Y Times p27 Ja 2 ’21 380w