COLUMBUS

This belongs in the category of Babatini's more serious work, as a somewhat fictionised historical novel built around Columbus -- a brief span of his checkered career, starting with his more or less chance attempt to reach the rulers of Spain through the Church, to his return, in triumph, from his first voyage, and his discovery of the whereabouts of the woman he had loved and wronged. Regard it as romance and adventure (Babatini has a sure formula for that); regard it, somewhat less surely, as of historical value. It will appeal to some on one score, some on another. But it does not belong in the category of his fast-moving tales of adventure. The notice is slowed down by the weight of detailed records the interest diverted by a certain conflict between accepted fact and evident fiction. Thoroughly readable, but overlong.