BOOK 



MARKET 



ered with almost tangible menace, 

 pawed the ground, and snorted short 

 Hemingway sentences, resonant with ill 

 will." 



Bangs battles charging crocodiles 

 and hippos; flees an angry wildebeest, 

 the Ethiopian revolution and tribesmen 

 seeking testicular trophies; wanders the 

 Ethiopian wilderness, lost and with shin 

 splints; and explores the cliff-side 

 dwelling of an invisible African hermit. 

 He also climbs glorious waterfalls that 

 send tendrils winding down rocky 

 riverside gorges, explores the ancient 

 history revealed in the layered stones of 

 river beds and rediscovers his passion 

 for wild water on one of North 

 Carolina's own rivers, the Chattooga. 



The Chattooga is not Bangs' only 

 North Carolina tie, either. Buried in the 

 middle of the book is a reference to Ann 

 Pierce, a young woman who met Bangs 

 in Addis Ababa in 1973 and rafted 

 halfway down the Omo with him, 

 paying for her trip with fresh food for 

 the journey. Pierce is now on the North 

 Carolina Sea Grant staff, braving the 

 calmer waters around our Manteo office. 



If you're hankering for exotic 

 locales, vicarious thrills and an unusual 

 telling of the old story of self-discovery, 

 don't let Bangs' excess of adjectives 

 scare you. This is a book that brings you 

 to the heart of unspoiled African 

 wilderness. The author's sometimes 

 overwrought prose cannot obscure the 

 mysterious beauty of riverside land- 

 scapes, or the joy of conquering a 

 roiling white river. 



Hatteras Light by Philip 

 Gerard. 1986. John F. Blair, Publisher, 

 1406 Plaza Dr., Winston- Salem, NC 

 27103. 232 pages. Paperback, $12.95. 

 ISBN 0-89587-166-1. 



This novel whisks readers back to 

 191 8, to the tail-end of World War I, 

 when Germany is sure to fall but U- 

 boats still threaten North Carolina's 

 shores. Gerard, who makes his home in 



Wilmington, centers his 

 action on the Hatteras 

 lighthouse. 



In 1918, the U.S. 

 Lifesaving Station 

 adjacent to the light 

 is still active. As a 

 German submarine 

 prowls Diamond 

 Shoals, the 

 lifesavers are 

 kept busy 

 saving men 

 from ships 

 sunk by the 

 U-boat's, 

 toipedoes 

 or deck 



guns. The village at 

 the foot of the light worries 

 about its missing fishers, rallies around 

 its heroes and scoffs at the Navy's ill- 

 informed attempts to destroy the 

 submarine. At last, the villagers must 

 turn to their native knowledge and 

 resourcefulness to protect their loved 

 ones and fragile homes. 



Gerard tells his story well, with a 

 talent for capturing the romantic 

 entanglements and emotional undercur- 

 rents that bind and divide families and 

 small-town residents. His narrative 

 follows multiple story lines, skipping 

 from character to character to offer a 

 well-rounded portrait of an Outer Banks 

 community struggling to stick together 

 in crisis. 



You'll grow to love Gerard's 

 motley crew of believable characters. 

 Dorothy Dant is a young woman from a 

 family plagued by tragedy, desperate for 

 a new life far from the lonely shores of 

 North Carolina. The Royal brothers, 

 lifesavers all, are a trio of quiet, well- 

 intentioned men who brawl more 

 because they are alike than because of 

 their differences. Patch Patchett is 

 especially endearing, the village ne'er- 

 do-well who becomes an unlikely hero. 



Max Wien, surgeon's assistant on 



the U-boat, is also poignantly drawn: 

 a man far from home, without much 

 hope of surviving, who constantly 

 questions the orders he must obey. In his 

 humility, he serves as a perfect foil for 

 the other outsider in the novel: Tim 

 Halstead, an arrogant, foolhardy Navy 

 lieutenant who wrecks his only chance 

 at greatness. 



The novel's end is satisfyingly 

 realistic. Though the village is safe once 

 more, Gerard leaves enough loose ends 

 to keep readers guessing, wondering, 

 following the characters in imagination 

 long after the book is closed. 



Sink or Swim: African- 

 American Lifesavers of the 

 Outer Banks by Carole Boston 

 Weatherford. 1999. Coastal Carolina 

 Press, University Place Office Park, 4709 

 College Acres Dr., Suite 1, Wilmington, 

 NC 28403. 80 pages. Hardcover, $15.95. 

 ISBN 1-928556-01-9. 



In her latest book for young people, 

 published by the new Coastal Carolina 

 Press, this High Point author brings 

 readers the sometimes shocking, ulti- 



28 WINTER 2000 



