THE ROCK AND THE WIND

Good escape reading, this long novel of character and period -- a full-panoplied segment of American frontier life, set in the Northwest at the time of the early railroad wars. The pattern of the plot is fairly routine, -- a stormy, emotional, unpredictable Cornish girl, growing up in Kansas, marries a brilliant, unstable young engineer, and reaps the harvest. Their life is for many years rootless; he adores her but is easily attracted elsewhere; she feels their brief and recurrent passion not enough, but finds, in her children, an anchor too strong to let her go to the man she has learned to love. At the close, their home becomes a haven -- their life shifts into easier paths. So much for the story -- but that is not the hold of the book. Rather is it a vigorous picture of the opening Northwest, of Portland torn by the dissensions surrounding right of way, the infiltration of eastern capital and unscrupulous adventurers, the start of the lumbering industry. Trudy is a vivid figure, more so than her husband Breck. And the story is well-told, though unnecessarily long. Not particularly original nor profoundly conceived and executed, but good entertainment. Dutton is planning a substantial advertising campaign, with posters and circulars.