The Valley of the Giants

I bought this book 7 years ago originally under the mistaken idea that it was about literal giants, of the mythical kind, as it was in the science fiction section of the secondhand bookstore. So you can imagine my surprise when it turns out to be a novel set in the early 1900s about the rough and tumble world of running a logging business in the fictional town of Sequoia

Pleasingly, as a fan of Arthur Hailey's books that delve into business, this was a pleasant and much welcome surprise. Not only does this novel paint a realistic and vivid picture of the time, it is immersive and dare I go as far as to say exciting. You can't help but root for the Cardigan's as they attempt to operate their business in an ethical manner whilst Colonel show more Pettington does so underhandedly and unethically attempting to gain any advantage he can.

At the very core it is a novel of succession and overcoming adversity, with the adversity being an unethical competitor who has seemingly taken advantage of the aging owner of a timber enterprise. The aging owner's son returns home from his education to taken the reigns of the family business and take the fight to the competitor.

I really enjoyed this and would recommend it. show less

This is one of those rugged old manly man kinds of books, pitting a good, fair-playing capitalist against an underhanded one. The story revolves around red-wood timber magnates in Northern California. It's a pretty good yarn, albeit melodramatic, at times. The characterization of women is predictably paternalistic (hey, its from a century ago, before suffrage). Interestingly, however, the primary female character is unusually shrewd in a business sense in between her fits of swooning and peevishness over the manly man of her dreams. This is escapist literature from a century ago, the kind of stuff my grandfather-in-law liked (although he turned me on to James Oliver Curwood, but this stuff is somewhat similar). It does it's job well enough.