A THOUSAND THOUSAND MORNINGS

If a confused twenty-year-old male wanted to escape from the guilt of an abortive love affair, he might well trundle his conscience off to the comforting African jungle. But he wouldn't necessarily do his moral penance in a Schweitzer type hospital or end up as a teacher in a remote Protestant mission, white friend of the natives, lover of a black girl. This is, however, what Harold Cortland does in this first novel of boy-to-man development. Other psychologically sick aspects are cautiously aired through the figures of his friend Becker, who meets a Mau-Mau-like death, and another man, the amorous bugaboo of virtuous missionaries. Cort himself is mixed between honest Christian tendencies and his genuine feelings which lead him into the love affair with the daughter of a native priest... This river pirogue is a little overladen with sex, but the mental dilemmas are at the helm, all outlined against the lush misery and adventure of tropical Africa. The novel is moderately effective.