GIFT OF LAUGHTER

by Estelle Webb Thomas ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 1, 1967

As in the author's last book, The Torchbearer the action here takes place on a Navajo reservation. Hilary Banning is a wealthy young girl about to graduate from college when she suddenly decides to postpone her pat marriage plans and try to teach for one year on a reservation. Luckily, there are two attractive eligible men around, and one provides a second engagement by the end. Homesickness breaks in now and then but generally the ""laughing girl"" seems happy in her isolated post--she loves the Indian children and the young couple (Priscilla and Gene) she lives with. When she shoots the bear who was menacing their settlement, even the medicine man begins to approve; soon thereafter she adopts an orphaned baby out of a sense of duty, and her place in the community appears permanent. There is some insight into the rewards of teaching, but unfortunately most problems are backed away from: with Priscilla around to care for the baby, Hilary has no trouble with her; the loneliness hinted at is never enlarged upon; the second love happens almost subliminally while the first one just fades away; Hilary goes home for the summer with the baby, engaged to a dedicated reservation doctor, and as the most interesting conflicts are about to arise the book ends. No subtlety intrudes on the bald statement of motives and sentiments--a triumph of idealism but a disappointment as fiction.

Pub Date: April 1, 1967

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Westminster

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

Categories: FICTION