The most thrilling stories of human magnificence are often those enforced on quiet protagonists who never intended to be heroes. That Nevil Shute should encounter such a tale in Sumatra promised well. His former books have marked him a direct-line descendant from those elite among the ancient wandering minstrels who could, from a first quiet sentence, implant irresistible urge to hear a tale.

In its beginning "The Legacy" carries this authority; unfortunately, before the end tale-spinning magic is not enough. For here has been attempted a hybrid creation and the two elements fall apart from an unseemly mid-point divide. The inspiring episode, transplanted from Sumatra to Malaya, is a truly great story, to which by slow, unaccented documentation, Mr. Shute has contributed almost unbearable poignancy and tension. But his own undiluted invention taking over later seems in contrast painfully contrived….

The story is told by the elderly solicitor...