 | |
| Author | Errol Flynn |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Adventure novel |
Publication date | 1937 |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
Beam Ends is a 1937 semi-autobiographical novel by Australian actor Errol Flynn. [1] [2] [3] [4] Upon publication, reviews positioned the book variously as fiction and non-fiction. It was understood as "a graphic account of an adventurous and almost fatal trip that [Flynn] made in a small schooner from Australia to New Guinea." [2] Another reviewer purported that it "deals at length on [Flynn's] Sydney days, and his subsequent voyage up the east coast of Australia." [4]
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Beam Ends was Flynn's first novel, although he had written nonfiction for many years. [5] An anonymous book reviewer in Smith's Weekly wrote: [3]
"Beam Ends" is sufficient proof that [Flynn] would have made a very good journalist. He tells the "Sirocco" story in pithy, terse English, and his descriptions of Barrier Reef scenery and storms at sea are couched in well-turned "purple patches" that would earn a rise in salary for most newspaper descriptive writers. Nicely etched are his sketches of strange characters they met in Coffs Harbor, Brisbane, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.
