THE KING'S PASSENGER

Good mixture of romance, history and the upsurge of democratic feeling among early colonists in a novel about Bacon's rebellion, in 1876. The central characters are Jeremy Wynne, indentured to Debby who teaches him pioneer ways, and worldly Ann. Jeremy learns through underground rumblings of the injustices suffered by the colonists, and -- when the break against Governor Berkeley comes to a head, he helps organize the discontented. High taxes, oppression, injustice, favoritism, ignoring need for defense against the Indians, combine to strengthen Bacon's cause, but his sudden death breaks up the organization, and Wynne and Debby are forced to flee westward to freedom. This by the author of Aaron Furr (1937) and By the Dim Lights (1941) -- is again evidence of an author who handles his historical material adroitly, tells an adequate story, but somehow does not quite come to grips with his characters.