In this book the author’s “freight is fact ... and the language is vigorous. What he calls Dr. Grenfell’s parish is the long, rocky coast of Labrador and of Newfoundland ... where Dr. Grenfell has labored, and is laboring, sailing the icy seas in fog and storm and tending the bodies (and minding somewhat also the souls) of the scattered dwellers in a vast, drear, country, which is less desolate since he came into it. Dr. Wilfred T. Grenfell is an Englishman, and he is commissioned by the ‘Royal national mission to deep sea fishermen.’ ... Mr. Duncan’s account is chiefly concerned, not with the doctor, but with his monster parish and the inhabitants of it.”—N. Y. Times.
“It is a better and more interesting piece of work than either of its predecessors from the same pen.”
| + + | Ath. 1905, 1: 591. My. 13. 450w. |
“By his literary gift Mr. Duncan opens the eyes of the least imaginative to the significance of the work he describes.”
| + | Critic. 46: 471. My. ‘05. 280w. | |
| N. Y. Times. 10: 182. Mr. 25, ‘05. 670w. (Condensed narrative of book). | ||
| + | Outlook. 79: 705. Mr. 18, ‘05. 170w. | |
| Pub. Opin. 38: 508. Ap. 1, ‘05. 130w. |
“This is indeed a different, and a better tale from any figment of the imagination. It reaches the heart with the force of verity.”
| + + | Reader. 6: 117. Je. ‘05. 460w. | |
| Spec. 94: 598. Ap. 22, ‘05. 500w. |
Duncan, Norman. [Dr. Luke of the Labrador.] [†]$1.50. Revell.
Mr. Duncan “has added a new province to the realm of literature. The gray ice-bound fields of Labrador, those stern, grim seas, that virile, simple folk, and its life of tragic monotony,—these things are now possessions to the imagination, possessions of enduring value.” (R. of Rs.) “Doctor Luke is a philanthropist, who, putting aside an early career of dissipation, devotes his life to relieving distress on the bleak coasts of Labrador.” (Ind.)
Reviewed by G. W. A.