("Lyttelton Times.")

Auckland Star, Volume XXIII, Issue 69, 22 March 1892, Page 3

("Lyttelton Times.")

'•Frank Melton's Luck."—Wo have received a copy of a novel, beating tho above title, written by Mr Thomas Cottle, and printed and published by Mr H. Bictfc, of Auckland. It is a narrative of adventure in the North Island in the last Maori war, and tho " flush times " of the Thames goklfield.

(" Wairarapa Standard.")

The " Wairarapu Standard," in reviewing "Frank Melton's Luck," saya :—" This is a capital story ; tho plot is entertaining, and tho character sketches chow that the author has considerable power of observation. But perhaps the chief attraction of the book lies in its faithful and sprightly description of our colonial life. By its combination of fiction with fact, of stirring historical occurrences with love-making and up-country race meetings, 'Frank Melton's Luck' doee something to roll away the reproach that we have no distinctive literature, . nothing redolent of tho land and life of New Zealand. Here is the kind of book that should be widely read, alike by those who want to know something of our ways, and by those who know them already from experience. To the new chum, tho true tale the author tells will be worth digesting ; while to the old colonist it should bring a delightful hour or two of memories. For we have here evidently the lowx fide reminiscences of a North Jpland settler, woven into a firstrate yarn about pretty girls, station life, gold "mining, and fighting with the Maoris. Air Cottle has a great gift of description, and with the minute touches of a Defoe he makes his readers realise the scenes he puts before them."

("New Zealand Graphic")

Readers of the "New Zealand Graphic" will be interested to know that the realistic story of colonial life, entitled "Frank Melton's Luck in New Zealand," and which was running; in theee pages during the months of May and June of this year, has now appeared in book form, published at the prices of one shilling and one and sixponce. In itscompletedshape theetorygaine rather than \osea in interest, and those who have perused it in the serial form will probably be induced to recommend it to their friends. Tho name of Mr Thomas Cottle, the author, is well-known throughout New Zealand, and his varied experiences in both islands have amply qualified him for the task of embodying them in the novel under review, which is marked nob only by its easy and pleasant bone, but also by the truthfulness of its incidents.