"What London Reads:

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 208, 3 September 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

"What London Reads:

By - - Charles Pilgrim

LONDON. , "THE flood of books on contem- ■ . 1 porary international politics continues. One can only pick out here and there. "Danger Spots 1 of Europe" (Hale), by Bernard ; Newman, is one of the most thoughtful and useful. As the whole world knows to-day, the fear of war hanging over the European peoples is mainly bound up with the question of frontiers and discontented, minorities. It ie with this problem that Mr. Newman has mainly concerned himself. He considers the Versailles Treaty and its consequences. He does not blame the authors overmuch, but believes they did the best they could in trying and tempting circumstance. He point* out that] the treaty has been largely revised in almost all its clauses except those which relate to frontiers. He takes his readers over the map of Europe and examines one racial problem after another. He does not attempt to minimise the danger lstent in thei* problems, but haa no

patience with thope who would eolve them in the spirit of sheer emotional prejudice. Without dogmatising, _ he comes to the conclusion that possibly the best way would be wholesale transference and reallocation of those minorities whose grievances, real and artificially stimulated, are creating in Europe a state of persistent tension. Was Jane Gentle? The idea that the woman who knows her own mind is a modern product will not bear examination. The Victorian age was responsible for a certain- superficially accepted convention. Queen Victoria did not like the "unwomanly woman"; therefore it was assumed that the good woman must be gentle and obedient. Only "horrid creatures" who clamoured for votes were recognised as strong-minded. So even Jane Austen, who did 'not trouble about political enfranchisement, was given the label "gentle." Mona Wilson in her new book. "Jane Austen and Some Contemporaries" (Cresset Press), lias given us a series of studies of a group of women, most of whom did not make any great name in the world but were quite distinguished in their way. To the majority 10-day Mary Somerville, Eliza Fletcher and i even Mary Martha Butt, who as Mrs i Sherwood wrote "The Fairchild Family,' i will be unknown. ! To these the author has added sucl ' comparative nonentities as Anne Wood i rooffe, Charlotte Tonna and Marj

Schimmelpenninck. These women lived quite commendable lives in the England of 150 years ago, but they led lives of their own; they had self-determined ! minds and a strongly self-determined 1 attitude towards life. After reading this • volume one comes to the conclusion that ■ the "emancipated" woman of to-day is ■ is no essential different from the less ■ obviously emancipated woman of the • Georgian era. Footlights and Quakers Miss Audrey Lucas is the daughter of that very distinguished writer whose i death was mourned recently by the | whole world of readers. Through her , father she comes of a Quaker stock, and . her new novel, "Old Motley" (Collins), . deals with the impact of the Quaker r spirit 100 years ago with the stage of t that time. The Baron family is sternly 1 Puritanical, but one of the sons, Charles, 3 goes to Drury Lane Theatre, sees Mme. s Vestris and is caught by the lure of the footlights. In spite of family opposij tion and the pain he causes his beloved 1 half-sister Margaret, he goes on to the stage, where he has a hard struggle for " recognition. s Miss Lucas has clearly set herself out t with much examination of documents to e give a picture of the London theatre in d the beginning of the nineteenth century. y We meet in her pages a number of welld known names, read again programmes s. which have almost been forgotten, and as far as possible enjoy performances which have long vanished into the past, h While not being on a level with Miss I- Clemence Dane's "Broome Stages," "Old JT Motley" ie fuU of interest for those

whose minds like to roam back to tie time when footlights were really footlights and not elaborate and complicated clectric illuminations. Novels about Australia seem to be multiplying. "Chosen People" (Gape), by Se&forth Mackenzie is a tale of quite unusual interest written with remarkable skill. Mr. Mackenzie is clearly one of those who has plenty to say. He stints neither his characters nor his incidents; he is a real novelist who knows how to deal with a plot. The story is of two young people of fine character whose lives are almost wrecked by coming up against an unscrupulous woman. Richard and Marjorie are young and romantic. She is married to an utterly unworthy husband and the two fall in love with all the j idealism of unspoiled youth. Events throw them into the circle of a Jewish family of whom the head, Ruth, the evil genius of tljg tale, is a middle-aged, married woman with a debased and selfish love for her own daughter's fiance. Richard's youthful chivalry calls him to the aid of the victimised daughter and Ruth usee her baleful sophistication in such a way that the romance of Richard and Marjorie is nearly wrecked. But Mr. Mackenzie is no cynic or pessimist. For him romance has its inalienable rights and the reader is left satisfied. The Australian scene and Australian society afford a beautifully and strongly drawn background for the turmoil of emotion and character.