The Black Dwarf of Mongolia

by Erroll Collins

What lies behind the impenetrable walls of the Monastery of Gompa Tong? Who is the fear-inspiring Black Dwarf of Mongolia? And what are his evil plans? What is "The Creeping Death"? Who is the mysterious "White Goddess"? And above all, what has become of the crews of the British aircraft which failed to return to Calcutta?
These were the questions which confronted Flight-Lieutenant Barry Franklyn right at the start of his mission which was to locate the missing planes carrying bullion to Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and at the same time to investigate mysterious rumours concerning a "White Goddess" living somewhere in the uncharted territory around Lhasa. Without doubt, a strange and perilous mission, and one which was to lead him into the most dangerous and hair raising adventures before answers to his questions could be found.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

Errol Collins was a pen name for Ellen Edith Hannah Redknap. A poet and writer from the mid 20th century. Known to her family as Goody ( as in "Goody Two Shoes" a nickname indicating that as the eldest child in a motherless family, she always set a good example, much to her siblings annoyance).

She is famous for her "boys own" adventure style stories. She wrote mainly for boys ( possibly initially for her younger brother Earnest ) but she did also write an adventure book with a female heroine.

In later life she wrote a lot of poetry and had several small books of poems published.

Reviews

[Nickolas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m the second one to review this book and probably one of the only few in the past decade or so to read this old find of a post war young reader novel of 1949. Chris, the other guy who reviewed this on Goodreads said simply, “A wonderful romp through wartime Tibet.” I should do my reviews as short as this but I don’t. AH HA!!

Errol Collins was an action and sci-fi writer in the 40s who died a spinster alone in her house in 1991. It’s unfair for me to rate this 2 stars because it was written at a different time for young readers who survived World War II and may have had dead fathers. This is a very old fashioned writing style where the jolly good young RAF pilots can do no wrong, are the luckiest bravest young lads in the world, and show mercy and honour on and off of the battle field. All the same it was pretty cheesy now that it’s 2013 however, I imagine that there are some people out there who have some good sentimental memories with this book and others she wrote. I’m sure she was a very kind woman. I was glad to be finished with it all the same. It took me too long to read.

I found this book at a used books stall in Fortitude Valley in Brisbane, Australia and saw the cover, saw the $3 price, and could not pass it up. Later I looked on eBay just for fun and saw that it was selling for $300. I doubt anyone would pay that but it makes the book all that more interesting to me all the same.

It’s from a different time as I said and there is definitely some old school racism taking place here. “The Black Dwarf of Mongolia” is enough to imply that. Somehow, he is black. He’s a dwarf. He’s from Mongolia. He is evil. If it were written today it would have been titled the less racist, "The African-Mongolian Little Person".

Apart from this character it’s basically England fighting Germany, Italy, and Japan again under different circumstances, clothes, and names. Maybe I need to reread my history books but in this book Tibetans are evil and worship the six armed demon Buddha.

I could pick apart the book if I wanted to, some of the plot holes, the way it felt rushed at places and over explained in others, and most of all the fact that the evil villain in the title doesn’t actually do much of anything in the book.

I like how Chris said it better: “A wonderful romp through wartime Tibet.”

We’ll leave it at that. R.I.P Erroll Collins (15 April 1906 – 11 March 1991)

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful romp through wartime Tibet.