Books: Gallions Reach

GALLIONS REACH—H. M. Tomlinson—Harper ($2.50). After he killed a man on board a boat at “Gallions Reach,” part of the grey, quiet Thames that breathes near the uproarious alleys of Limehouse, Colet was pursued by a ghost. Through shipwreck, riding the hot ocean in a tiny open boat, even in the green griddle of the jungle, there was always a hand upon his shoulder, a voice in his ear. Finally he obeyed the whispered command and sailed home, to “Gallions Reach.” The lands and water over which Colet is driven by a sprinting remembrance are faintly reminiscent of those over which the great figures of Joseph Conrad strode. Hence Author Tomlinson, a shy, ugly, middle-aged man whose life has been in strange places, who has written this first novel, full of fine and original writing, has been unjustly called an imitator, a disciple.