QUIETLY MY CAPTAIN WAITS

I should be inclined to put my money on this as the surprise best seller of the late Spring. It has everything:- an untouched historical background, a romantic figure, whose story was there to be told, romance and adventure -- and good writing. I loved it. Although there is no similarity of story or setting, there is something about Madame de Freneuse that appealed to me as did Henriette Desportes in All This And Heaven Too. One gets a vivid picture of Port Royal (now Annapolis Royal) and the inner dissension of the little capital, one gets the close linking of the fates of the Indians and the whites,--The Micmacs and the Malisites with the French, the Iroquois with the English. Madame de Freneuse and M. de Bonaventure, the central figures, are drawn from actual characters; Raoul de Perrichet, who plays a vital part in the story, is a fictional character. It is a gallant and romantic story, with dramatic highlights. The historical aspects are given credence by the inclusion of the actual letters and records and a contemporary map of Port Royal and the fort, with end papers showing the incredible distances Madame de Freneuse traversed to meet her fate. The publishers are backing this book with extensive promotion and advertising, and offering the dealer a prepublication price of $2.25.