THE RISING

by H.R. Lenormand ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 1952

The first novel of a prominent French dramatist of the '20's, and an effectively sombre story of self-destruction in which a sterile, desert plateau in Algeria frames and presages the imminent, inevitable doom. Dollans, the Administrator of a half-French, half-Arab village, a gentle and rather irresolute character, witnesses a wasting landscape as famine undermines the native population and stirs a fitful unrest. His own life too reflects despair, in his worthless son, and in his second marriage to a dreadful woman. As Dollans fails in his attempt to secure food for his people, a young girl comes to the village from the Caucasus- Natalie- to whom he is attracted and whom he protects even in the face of the knowledge that she is a Russian agitator. Natalie's incendiary activities reach the point of murder; she kills an Arab lover to spark off a native rebellion; she is wounded and Dollans takes her to his home where she dies. In the investigation which follows, Dollans is retired without a pension, and he goes to a further outpost in the desert for a final deterioration in body and spirit.... One questions, however, whether Lenormand's name will carry this to an American audience.

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 1952

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1952

Categories: FICTION