The Frontier Garrison - Paperback

by Jenõ Rejtõ (Author), Balint Kacsoh (Translator), Balint Kacsoh (Editor)

"The Frontier Garrison" is the first English translation of "Az elõretolt helyõrség" by the Hungarian novelist Jenõ Rejtõ (1905-1943), originally published in 1939 under the pen name of "P. Howard." The translator, Balint Kacsoh (a university professor) also annotated the edition. The preface provides biographical data of Jenõ Rejtõ in historical and literary context. The genre is fiction; elements of action, adventure, mystery, and comedy are mixed in the story. It is suitable for young readers and adults. Synopsis: Action and adventure are mixed with a healthy dose of offbeat humor in this P. Howard classic, set in the second half of the 1930s. Harrincourt is dishonorably discharged from the French Naval Academy for a prank. He realizes that his carefree behavior put the livelihood of his widowed mother and teenage sister in jeopardy. To secure their financial future, he pays the premium on his life insurance policy and joins the French Foreign Legion destined to Africa, where his death "in the course of professional duty" would be all but guaranteed. While in basic training in Oran, he unwittingly becomes mixed up in murder and espionage and encounters the ghost of a murdered woman who has a penchant for singing. In short order, his unit is dispatched to a frontier garrison established to support French colonial expansion into equatorial Africa. Rival foreign powers, however, attempt to thwart the French plans and Harrincourt finds himself in the crossfire of international intrigue and falls in love with the beautiful woman whose haunting ghost follows the legionnaires as they march through the deadly Sahara. It is up to Harrincourt to save the day and uncover the secret of a mysterious watch, even if it might mean foregoing the death benefit his insurance policy would pay to his family.

Author Biography

Jenõ Rejtõ (born Jenõ Reich) was a prolific Hungarian journalist, novelist and playwright. He is best known for his books published under the pen name "P. Howard," many of them set in the 1930s French Foreign Legion. For that reason, Rejtõ is often remembered as the immortal legionnaire. He was born in Budapest, then Austria-Hungary, on March 29, 1905. During World War II, after being exposed as a Jew by a Nazi newspaper, he was drafted to the Hungarian Army's labor service and dispatched to the eastern front in November, of 1942. He died on January 1, 1943 in Evdakovo, Russia (then under occupation by Axis forces) due to typhus infection. Although he had been initially dismissed as a pulp fiction writer, his books have survived the test of time. He is still one of the most widely read Hungarian authors who is popular among all age groups from preteens to the elderly. The staying power of his novels is primarily due to his memorable characters and offbeat humor. The translator, Balint Kacsoh was born in Budapest, Hungary in 1959. He attended Semmelweis University of Medicine and graduated with an M.D. in 1984. He earned a Ph.D. at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1997 in Basic Medical Sciences - Physiology/Endocrinology. He has lived in the United States since 1986 and has worked at Mercer University School of Medicine since 1992 where he is a full professor.