THE DARK OF SUMMER

by Eric Linklater ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 7, 1956

Scotland's north coast islands, espionage, the war in North Africa and Italy, on to Korea -- and a rounding out of Highland Scotch Tony Chishelm's romance with Gudrun -- all centers around the eccentricities of Mungo Wishart, whose life and death shadow Tony in all his wartime experiences. Haunted by his brother's cowardice, confronted by a frozen body of a German agent in the Faross, guided by the leadership of Captain Silvers in confronting Wishart with evidence of his treachery, Chisholm is burdened with guilt over Wishart's suicide and its effect on his son and daughter. He catches up with his brother's story and with Wishart's son, who dies in his arms in Korea, and is fated to return to Wishart's home and Gudrun and come full circle in the finis of an older disappearance. A first half which surpasses its second, a soul-searching hero, and a long military progress -- this has its best moments in Scotland, its best story in the early war intrigues and loses its hold in its continuation of Chisholm's ""man of our times"" role. None of Linklater's lighter touches here for his previous audiences; somewhat redundant in a superfluity of war novels.

Pub Date: Feb. 7, 1956

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1956

Categories: FICTION