BOOKS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 8169, 28 April 1888, Page 5 (Supplement)

BOOKS.

Katherint Rmina. By Walter Besant. J. W. Arrowsmith, Bristol. (Sold by Messrs Wise, Caffln, and Co., Dunedin).

Admirers of Mr Besant will be delighted with this booklet. It is Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual for ,1887—so familUr to us now since fhe a'ppoaraaijf) df f Cijljsd 13ack.'S The book is quite';n the IBesant yein. 'It deals with the miseries qf the rpspeptabje girl in London. Catherine Regina is introduced to us as a happy gipl about ta resign the drudgery of the life of a daily governess I'or marriage with a mau she loves, and who has just fallen heir to a Loudon houso and au income of £1000 a year. Wheu the cup is at her lip it is dashed away, the inheritaupp v&nighes, snd TPfli has to go out to Egypt (js a special, By-and-bye he is reported missing and given up by all his friends, as dead. Meanwhile Katherine in his | absence runs the whole gamut of destitution in j London along with auother girl, whoso fate in the end is the fate of so many destitute girls. Of course "(Catherine's lover has pqt (jeefl killed. There is in-this uoveiefct'a gbine very clever writing descriptive of London life .and London qharacter, Hariey House—a home for .ladies wbo have to live cheaply, managed by a " committee of six matrons of proved virtue aud religion "—is a grim bit of Loudon portraiture, presumably true to life. The German in London—with a supreme belief iv the ultimate destiny of tfeo Teutonic people—borders on carioarure. \Ve haye Deconse vory familiar by report of late years''with the Dittmerßock type of German, who reads and writes seven languages, works for a wage of £40 per annum, and is gradually supplanting tjie stolid British qlerk, who finds tho'aspirates of one'language more than ho can manage,

Red Spider. By the author of John Earring. George Robertson and Co., Melbourne. (Sold by Messrs Wise, Caffin, and Co., Dunedin).

The author of "John Herring" is in great danger of writing himself dry, if what we haye seen somewhere stated be true—that he lias been engaged ou fiye novels at the same time.' " Red Spider,"'' we believe,is qpe of them, and we havo often'read worse hovels. Ou'the cover of "the book isa picture of a rather lanky girl ip a phorifdregs, qbe wears a, scarlet cloak and shows a good'deal of red stocking. This is the portrait of Red Spider. Ifsd Spider, or, to epeak qf her respectfully as she dpseryes, Honor jiiisniora, is a thoroughly wholesorpo piece of girlhood of the Jeapnie Peans type-^a strong, deep nature, capable of heroip enduyanpe aud self-sacrifice. She is thrown perhaps a little too pointedly iuto contrast with the other characters of the book, who aro mostly of tho commonplace and conventional order to be found in Hardy's novels aud others dealing with provincial life. A considerable part of the charm of " Red Spider " is due to the local colouring pf the novel, fjie sgenery, custqois,'aiid superstitions'"of Devon are skilfully used. There is the superstition in Devon that the little red spider (cailed " the soldier" iv some country districts) briugs prosperity to whomsoever it approaches. This quaint superstition is really the germ of the story. Another belief amongst tho men of Devon, that Cornishmen aro born with tails, is effectively used in the story. Altogether " Red Spider "is a novel well wprth readiug. Houor Luxmore is a girl who wijl take ji firmer hold qn the memory and affections than 'most of the hefoin'ei"!:'who do dllty in the novels of the day.

Malcolm. By George Macdonald. Kegan Paul, Trench, and Co., London. (Sold by Mr J. Braithwaite, Dunediu.)

This ij one of Kegan Paul's cheap colonial gerjes, and will h,e welcome iq all loyers of fjeorge Macdpuald!s noycls. This author, if ho has his fads, is oue qf tho most origiuail aud forpible novelists of this century. There is no uuthpr, except Sco|t himself, who has so well sucpeedefj in presenting the tpagic p^rpestrjess of humble Scottish lifoj or who has used with better effect a certain Scottish local dialect. " Malcolm," as well as " The Marquis of Lossie," are stories of the north of Scotland, on the shore of the Moray Firth, a placo where George Macdonald loved to speud his summer holiday, studying the words and ways of the simple fisher folk. Tbe two novels are the fruits of his observation and experience.

Pictnyesqui Atlas of Australasia. Tho Bicturr

esque Atlas Publishing Company, Sydney and Melbourne.

Tbis magnificent work holds on Its way apace. The numbers before us aro parts 16 —21, and we oannot see that there is auy falling off oither in letterpress or illustration from the excellent quality of work put forward in the opening numbers. The latest parts deal with the topography of Northern Victoria, and with the early history of Queensland and the topography of Brisbane and its neighbourhood. In dealing with descriptions of Victorian scenery and of Victorian gold townships, it can be no easy matter for a writer to keep up that picturesqueness of style which is required to prevent a statistical enumeration of economical and industrial facts from becoming wearisome, aud we will not flatter the writers of the " Atlas " so far as to say that thej' have always ' kept topographical description from becoming tedious. But on the wholo wo cannot but admire the'ingenuity of phrase which finds for each now scene the suitablo vocabulary of superlatives. Sometimes the style is pitched so high to reach the dangerous limits of poetjo prose, whigb, unless it is justified by the occasion and is supremely well done, is apt to run into fino writing, Ths following passnge from page 301 will show that the style of tho "Atlas" is losing none of its glow:—

"At night when the full moon has climbed above the massy wall of forest growth, by which this beautiful region (Marysville) is encompassed, and pours down upon the landscape the gauzy swimming vapour which hangs over rock aud tree like ft veil of fine spup silver mist, and plays fantastio tricks with the white shafts and the dark foliage of the omnipresent gum trees, what curious filigree moresco work those molten shafts and interwoven shadows trace in shifting chequered pattern of mellow light and mystic darkness on the swaying breeze-stirred landscape. But when the winds are prisoned up in their aiiry caverns, the scene resembles a fancied glimpse seen from fairyland, for the fullorbed ' regent of the night' pours

." I A spa ot lpslrp qn the horizon's verge, 4c, &c.'" Marysville must be a pretty place; but much of this would clog the edgo of our appetite.

The Queensland seotiou has begun woll. Thero is a clear and yet succinct account of tho first exploration and colouisation of the colony. Queensland hardly comes behind New South Wales in the interest of her history—amongst the incidents of which ono of the most interesting, from its pathos and its mystery, is the story of the unfortunate Leichhardt. The engravings in these numbers aro beautifully executed, somo of tho native flowers being particularly charming.