Escape from the Legion. By Ted Harris. (Murray. 8s. 6d.)
MR. HARRIS—the nom de guerre chosen by the author—has produced a fresh variation on a-far from original theme. For some years we have been spared narratives, authentic, semi-authentic or wholly fictitious, of life in the French Foreign Legion. Apart from its gallant exploits in Norway and its reaction to the Allied landings in North Africa, one has tended to forget the very fact of the Legion's existence. This book, once it has got well into its stride, has, how- ever, little to do with the Legion. Its interest is twofold. It gives a picture of the corruption of Vichyite rule in North Africa and it reveals the effect of restraint and imprisonment on an obviously adventurous personality. A reviewer cannot be expected to pass judgement on the author's veracity. All he can say is.that the book rings true and is exciting to read. It has not the quality of The Enormous Room, of which one naturally thinks as one reads it. But it is a well-told yarn of an out-of-the-ordinary experience. During the last six years many people have had strange and unusual adven- tures, and we can expect many stories similar to this, stories which a novelist might well hesitate to invent.
Previous page
