What London Is Reading

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 280, 26 November 1938, Page 10 (Supplement)

What London Is Reading

LONDON. MISS ELIZABETH BOWEN'S now novel, "The Death of the Heart" (Gollancz), it not intended for those rapid reader* who delight in a gallop through excitement. It is the simple tale of a young girl's tragic disillusion' ment told with all the subtlety which characterises the author'* work*. 11m young girl, Portia, comes full of iiuiorcn«-o ami vitality to a home of worldly-minded and inert people. Her tragody is to fall in love with a thoroughly detectable young man, Eddie. In her youthful self-abandonment, she

} By Charles Pilgrim

becomes almost part of liim. She keeps a diary into which she pour* the whole 1 of her heart's longing, only to And that I her most intimate and sacred thoughts , have been passed round the family for their weary amusement. f Gradually the girl discovers the utter unworthiness of the fascinating Eddie, • who easily make* love to any woman ' who presents herself. She rum away f for comfort to Major Brutt, who i<* Almost a« indeterminate and ineffectual i as nearly all the other characters in . the hook. In the end she is tAken back > to her home by Matchett, the maid, who

is devoted to her and about the only one of tlie whole lot with any force of principle. As will be seen, there is very little pTot, but. out of a slight story Miss Bowcn has managed to create a great P and . moving tragedy. A child's heart I in killed in the midst of a heartless | crowd. The crowd itself has been • cleverly drawn. It is modern with all the weary cynicism of the age. Those around her cannot understand Portia's singleness of purpose or why she makes a tragedy out of what is to them a commonplace adventure. The Old Firm Mr. Horace Annesley Vachell has written a great deal in his time and has created at least one notable character in Joe Quinney, dealer in antique furniture. The furniture dealer is an old man by now, but he is not yet dead. He has a partner, Josephine, his granddaughter, and "Quinney's for Quality" (Ward Lock) is mainly concerned about the doings of Josephine. The granddaughter is worthy of the firm. The different chapters arc different adven-

tures in which she show# her knowledge and quality. She can even tackle old Quinney himself and is up to any kind of fake, however cunning or plausible. In the 16ng run she is up to becoming a mother, which she does in a thoroughly efficient manner.

It is difficult to say how those who do not already know Quinney and his quaint waya will take to this volume of what are really short stories. Almost certain It is that readers who became acquainted with the old firm a quarter of a century ago will rally round it now for the sake of old times. The quaint remarks may be like echoes from the past, but there is always something satisfying in meeting an acquaintance whose company we have enjoyed from the days of our own youth. All Over Europe

To-day, Europe is offering an anxious problem to the whole world. A thousand pens are busy, describing, theorising and prophesying. Among the best of the books bearing on the present situation is "Guns or Butter" (Putnam), by R. H. Bruce Lockhart.

Mr. Lockhart lias made for himself a great reputation as a special correspondent with a graphic pen. His chief enjoyments are travelling and observing. As he writes, this born journalist cannot tolerate being tied down to a newspaper office. He must be on the move from country to country. The chief motive for his last journey' is implied in his titje. He roved through Central Europe to the Balkans with a lecturing excursion in the Scandinavian countries. His already established position gave him ready entry in all tjie chief capitals and cities he visited.

Mr. Lockhart interviewed kings and statesmen and anybody who seemed to him to have anything to say. In Prague he felt forebodings of things to come very soon. Even in Scandinavia he detected disquiet. He has the rapidly seeing eye and the facile pen. One is conscious of a clear vision in many of the things he tells, but at the same time one makes allowances for the rapidity of sight and the facility in the tolling. Mr. Bruce Lockhart is to be counted amongst the super-journalist* and not the historians.