Captain Coranto

The post-Cromwellian period in Restoration England is the background for this entertaining first novel. The highwayman of song and story, personified here by romantic hero Captain John Shipton was part of the social chaos of the period. Newly returned from the royalist wars in France, Shipton is vainly seeking the return of the Yorkshire land from which his family was evicted in the earlier political turmoil. Penniless but charming and opportunistic, Shipton falls in with a benign and well-organized band of brigands in London. They ply their lucrative trade among the wealthy passenger-laden carriages that warily travel the post roads. Episodes of Shipton's apprenticeship, his growing adeptness at highway robbery and fame as the bandit not averse to dancing the coranto with a lady victim make pleasurable reading. The highwayman pays for his fame, but leads the reader on a lively and generally merry chase. (Mar.)