David Malcolm

A trout-fishing outing becomes the starting point for David Malcolm's account of his life. Riding a farm horse hitched to a wood-wagon, the ten-year-old boy sets out toward the mountains with James, full of confidence until his mother and the villagers supply a succession of warnings. Nelson Lloyd gives these early scenes a gently comic edge, letting David's grand sense of adventure rub against the practical concerns and peculiar habits of the people around him.

Later, that confidence faces a harder test in the newspaper offices around Park Row. David wants a place on The Record, but letters of introduction bring advice rather than employment. His rounds of editorial rooms, life at Miss Minion's boarding-house and encouraging letters from Gladys Todd show ambition meeting the daily work of persistence. Told in David's own voice, the novel offers a view of growing independence through village life, youthful pride and the effort to establish a working life.