Yankee Spectator

JONATHAN BISHOP--Herbert Gorman --Farrar & Rinchart ($2.50).

That best-selling behemoth, Anthony Adverse (TIME. June 26), set the pace for what may well be a rout of historical novels in the U. S.. but that pace is a little too hot for Jonathan Bishop. In a story of such length and scope as Anthony Adverse the long rubbery arm of coincidence seemed only a little more elastic than natural; in Author Gorman's book it steals the show.

Jonathan, a well-to-do young Harvard graduate sent by his Boston father to see what he can see in the 1870 world of Paris, gets to town just in time to witness the last act of the Second Empire. Introduced to imperial society by the 'U. S. court dentist (Thomas Wiltberger Evans, a real character), Jonathan gets a satisfactory eyeful when the ambiguous Denyse Zinh swims into view. Before he knows it, they are bedfellows. But when he walks in unexpectedly one night he finds he is not the only one. Taking it like a man, he goes off to watch the French army get its knockout at Sedan. He arrives the night before the battle, just as the German lines are closing in, is summoned by the Emperor and given an important missive to the Empress in Paris. After the battle he gets through the German lines, helps rescue the Empress from a mob at the Tuileries and gets her safely to England. Day before the Germans bottle up Paris, back comes Jonathan. He survives the siege and is still wandering around looking things over when the Communists seize Paris and him with it. With increasing fatalism he watches the storming of the city by MacMahon's troops, has just decided he has had enough of it when he stops an inquisitive bullet.

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