Among The New Novels

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 219, 16 September 1939, Page 8 (Supplement)

Among The New Novels

rHOSE who have a liking for adventure stories, with wild, •ar-off regions of the earth for heir setting, will find J. M. ■v-ott's "I'nkimwii l\iver" (llodder and t <«11 lt 11 1 < > 11) as thrilling as any that have been recently published. fVter Slicrivood. a young Londoner. makes Iho icc|uaiiitam-c mi l lie Thame* Embankment <<f a man twic«» his age. entirely without, li11ni!>11r. and vfrapt ii|> in vengeful thoughts. I'eter is attracted to liim, Ihe more so as lie disc-overs that he? is i hunter and a gold prospect or, and is returning to the far north of the American continent to tiring to hook <i partner who has robbed him and left hi:n to starve. In a spirit of adventure I'eter joins him. and tin- *torv Mr. Scott tells with \igour and vividness is the storv >f their enterprise. In his descriptions r)f the regions near the Arctic circle, their superabundance of dangers and discomfort*. tlie trapper* who earn a living in them a number of them half•a st <> Indians-—the gold prospectors, storekeepers and others whom I'eter and liis friend meet with, he *how* himself [lossessed of first-hand knowledge. ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦ A novel in which the author. George lorodin, shows himself familiar with 'Urjrical education in Germany and at iome, and with the medical profession

and their etiquette in both countries, is St i eel of a 'thousand blisters'' (l abel). The hero is I'eter Satov, a Ktis>ian. who is a •renins in his diagnoses and manual operations. A fugitive \\ it It his family troni the Soviet, he takes his diploma in Home and becomes assistant to one of the principal surgeons in the city. Owing to an episode in which a. woman pets a hold over him. he leaves Koine for Germany. In reduced circumstances he becomes a locum teneiis in a village, is befriended by a world-famous professor, and, on being accepted as an ••internal" student, has no difficulty in taking his M.D. decree. Alter some experience in different hospitals, he makes his wav to England, lias hospital experience's there, sees something of English social lite, and. through ignorance of the conventions, nearly brings his career to an end. It is a Bulgarian friend and a charming and sagacious young woman who make it ]>ossiblc for him to develop into one of the '"big men" in llarley Street. Mr. Horodin has written an engrossing as well as an illuminating story, and he so enlists our sympathy with I'eter that we are glad to read of his success, and still more of the great happiness that comes to him. The jealousies and animosities Peter's genius excites will be appreciated by none more than the doctors who may read the story.