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AN ORIGINAL NOVEL

Here is a novel of originality and distinction about Sydney life, but there is nothing to «how whether or not Mr. Chester F. Oobb, its author, is an Australian .The ingredients of "Mr. Moffatt" are simple. The hero is a chemist, and he and his wife, his daughter* and one or two friends or acquaintances are the only characters. He has a picture that may be an Old Master, and he goes Home to sell it. Misfortunes, personal and financial, come upon him one by one, until he is left virtually alone in the world, a financial failure, to find, however, that life has been and is still well worth living. The story is told through the medium of the man's thoughts. There are pages of those racing, badlyconnected thoughts that come to every man, and the reporting of Mr. Moflfatt's, is astonishingly well done. Our only criticism is that once or twice Mr. Cobb goes over the boundary prescribed by a wise convention. There are few men whose every thought is printable. Not that there it anything bad about Mr. Moffatt. On the contrary, he is a good, simple-minded, lovable soul. He loves his wife, and loves also his daughter, but Naomi, pretty, efficient, up-to-date, and idealistic in a hard, narrow sense (she is really quite unsympathetic), puzzles him. He feels he cannot win her affection, and does not. In the end Naomi, who is devoting her life to what she calls "service," goes off to Adelaide and leaves him alone. It never occurs to her that there may be a higher service—the care of her father. She is a Mrs. Jellaby in miniature; the distant hills are green. It is a noteworthy achievement to have made a story out of this material —there, is no romance in the general sense of the word—and to paint such portraits clearly. It is a sad but heartening tale. "Mr. Moffatt" is published by Allen and Unwin.

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Permanent link to this item

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19260130.2.170

Bibliographic details

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 22

Word Count
328

AN ORIGINAL NOVEL Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 22

AN ORIGINAL NOVEL Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 25, 30 January 1926, Page 22