CORMORANT'S BROOD

The setting is that identified with Inglis Fletcher's earlier books- the region in the province of North Carolina along the Albemarle. The period lies between 1725 and 1729 when the stirrings of potential revolution lay in the uprisings against the venal governors sent out by the Proprietors in England to whom Charles II had paid a debt in land in the New World. And the story revolves around Granville's young relative sent out incognito to check on actual conditions and the governor's performance. It was to the village of Edenton he went- and on the voyage struck up a friendship with Richard Chapman, who was restless at the idea of becoming a planter- and who accepted his new friend as Anthony Dawson. Together they played vital parts in the seething resistance in the young settlement; Tony found what he wanted in life- an island plantation, where his forebears had put down roots- and a girl to love. But the path to his destination was marked by setbacks, unrest, disillusion- and a constant struggle against first one governor, then another. As a bit of early America it is a lively credible portrait. But the plot creaks, the dialogue often seems forced and artificial, and the characters lack dimension. Nonetheless, it seems a little late to question the sureness of Inglis Fletcher's market.