BURNING GOLD

Elaborately plotted and overwritten historical romance of the seas, in the days of more or less respectable piracy, when England under Queen Anne, hovered between the darkness of ignorance and the dawn of new knowledge. The story bogs down in the lushness of the style, which reminds this reader of the less appealing aspects of Marryatt. Details of period and background, of custom and psychology seem authentic enough, but one gets a bit weary of the selfless philosopher-doctor, Tom Dover, who puts his scientific spirit of adventure above any personal ambitions, and uses rather than allowing himself to be used by the two women who loved him, -- the powerful Lady Aurelia, whose machinations sent him out of London and to sea on mysterious mission, and Molly Tawne, passionate, low-born, pirate on her own, who dies conveniently so that Tom's true love can win. Sea adventure -- brief interlude in Tortuga, with its secret dictator -- outright piracy -- and gropings towards enlightened medicine and humanity against violent times and ways.