''Doctor Dolittle and the Secret Lake'' is a

Doctor Dolittle Doctor John Dolittle is the central character of a series of children's books by Hugh Lofting starting with the 1920 '' The Story of Doctor Dolittle''. He is a physician who shuns human patients in favour of animals, with whom he can speak in th ...

book written by

Hugh Lofting Hugh John Lofting (14 January 1886 – 26 September 1947) was an English-American writer, trained as a civil engineer, who created the classic children's literature character Doctor Dolittle. The fictional physician talking to animals, based i ...

. The book was published posthumously in 1948, 15 years after its predecessor. Fittingly, it is the longest book in the series, and the tone is the darkest;

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

took place before the book was published, during which Lofting had published his 1942 anti-war poem '' Victory for the Slain''. The book contains passages that almost border on being misanthropic with some very powerful passages concerning war and Man's inhumanity to man.

Style

The book starts with the Doctor giving up his dream of lengthening human life with discoveries he made on the Moon, and showing signs of despair. The tone of the passages for the first time acknowledges 'nature red in tooth and claw': another of the Doctor's experiments, a house where scavengers and parasites can live without harming other creatures, is also doomed to failure. The Doctor then receives an urgent call to rescue what is literally his oldest friend: Mudface the Giant Turtle, who was a passenger on Noah's Ark. Mudface's tale of the

Great Flood A flood myth or a deluge myth is a myth in which a great flood, usually sent by a deity or deities, destroys civilization, often in an act of divine retribution. Parallels are often drawn between the flood waters of these myths and the primeva ...

is told, which was missing from Lofting's 1923 novel ''

Doctor Dolittle's Post Office ''Doctor Dolittle's Post Office'' is the third of Hugh Lofting's Doctor Dolittle books. Set on the West Coast of Africa, the 1923 book follows the episodic format of most other books in the series. In the beginning of the book, Doctor Dolittle ...

''. Mudface's account of the Flood and its aftermath takes up most of the book, and it is by no means a jolly story. There are many references to genocide and slavery, including a passage where animals gather outside a hut to devour the humans inside (a young man and his beloved, who are the most sympathetic characters next to Mudface and his mate). Comedy is reduced to a mere sprinkling, just enough to lighten some of the more dark passages. The book stands alone in style but with, arguably, some of

's most powerful writing. Also of note is that Lofting's depiction of African characters is far less caricatured than in previous novels.

References

External links

* 1948 British novels 1948 fantasy novels Secret Lake British children's novels Novels about Noah's Ark Novels published posthumously J. B. Lippincott & Co. books Novels set in Africa 1948 children's books Children's books based on the Bible {{1940s-child-fantasy-novel-stub