One of the joys of reading Jack Fingleton on cricket is that the personality of the author illuminates every page. It is not merely that Fingleton’s style is the man himself; his work transcends a Parnassian obsession with manner of expression. Just as one expects existentialism in every scene of a Sartre play and Shavian philosophy in every line of a Shaw prologue, the reader would be disappointed if he did not discover a highly individualistic and forceful view­point on cricket eloquently expounded in each chapter of a Fingleton book.

The author does not let us down in his eighth and most recent contribution to cricket literature: The Immortal Victor Trumper. Ostensibly the work is concerned with tracing the career, character, nature, and playing style of one of the most generous and gifted batsmen who ever trod the Australian, English, New Zealand, and South African cricket fields. How well Fingleton performs his self-allotted labor of obvious love! His research into his subject is exhaustive, thorough, and well-documented and brings to light hitherto little-known facets of the life and character of undoubtedly Australia’s best-loved cricketer.