Rex Beach

Rainbow's End Rex Beach

Publisher Marketing: THE VALLEY OF DELIGHT In all probability your first view of the valley of the Yumuri will be from the Hermitage of Montserrate, for it is there that the cocheros drive you. Up the winding road they take you, with the bay at your back and the gorge at your right, to the crest of a narrow ridge where the chapel stands. Once there, you overlook the fairest sight in all Christendom-"the loveliest valley in the world," as Humboldt called it-for the Yumuri nestles right at your feet, a vale of pure delight, a glimpse of Paradise that bewilders the eye and fills the soul with ecstasy. It is larger than it seems at first sight; through it meanders the river, coiling and uncoiling, hidden here and there by jungle growths, and seeking final outlet through a cleft in the wall not unlike a crack in the side of a painted bowl. The place seems to have been fashioned as a dwelling for dryads and hamadryads, for nixies and pixies, and all the fabled spirits of forest and stream. Fairy hands tinted its steep slopes and carpeted its level floor with the richest of green brocades. Nowhere is there a clash of color; nowhere does a naked hillside or monstrous jut of rock obtrude to mar its placid beauty; nowhere can you see a crude, disfiguring mark of man's handiwork-there are only fields, and bowers, with an occasional thatched roof faded gray by the sun. Contributor Bio:  Beach, Rex Rex Beach was an American novelist, dramatist, and Olympic water polo player. Rex Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan but moved to Tampa, Florida with his family where his father was growing fruit trees. Early on, he was drawn to Alaska at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. Rex Beach's first novel, The Spoilers, was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors. The Spoilers became one of the best selling novels. For many, Rex Beach is considered the "Victor Hugo of the North," and his Westerns have been adapted into successful films.