RAINBOW ON THE ROAD

by Esther Forbes ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 26, 1953

The making of a legend is central to the theme of this story of two men (or could it be one?) -- Jude Rebough, itinerant portrait painter, and Ruby Lambkin, highwayman. The place, Puritan New England; the time, the first quarter of the 19th century, when coaches carried mail and passengers, and peddlers were the chief media for selling goods through the countryside. Jude was a peddler- and a painter, who prepared elaborate framework of figure and decoration in the winter and in the summer took orders on the spot for inserting faces as he jogged about Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont. He even kept it up after his marriage to Mitty, whose brothers took the inappropriate union in their stride- she could afford it if she wanted to buy herself a husband, and she was used to running her farm herself anyhow. The story of the way in which Jude's chance resemblance to the glamorous highwayman resulted in his taking on some of his attributes is told by Mitty's nephew, whom she was raising-and he was thirteen when Jude took him off for a summer's round where Jude fell heir to his double's legends. It is an original tale, at times somewhat thinly strung out. But the rich tapestry of period and way of life and character makes rewarding reading.

Pub Date: Jan. 26, 1953

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton, Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1953

Categories: FICTION