Books: Prize Novel

BROTHERS IN THE WEST—Robert Raynolds—Harper ($2.50).

Every two years since 1922 Publisher Harper has held a $10,000 Prize Novel Contest. Last winner was Expatriate Julian Green's The Dark Journey, a well-written bad seller. This time Publisher Harper, twice shy, has given his prize-money for a book that should not make his ledgers see red. Brothers in the West will not appeal to the precious few but should be read, wept over, thoroughly enjoyed by the common-or-garden reader.

Author Raynolds' tale is of two brothers, men of stature and sinew, who roam together through the Western U.S. forests and are devoted to...