Shorter Notices

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 88, 13 April 1940, Page 8 (Supplement)

Shorter Notices

« by Christopher Morlov Angus and Robertson. J ' Kitty is one of tihe legion of "white collar women" earning their own liviii" in American cities. In this book she recalls her life to date—its joys (one in particular), it« disappointments and its miseries, and wonders, without reaching a conclusion, what it all means. It would be easy to write Kitty down as one of the rootless, amoral products of big city life, but her warm humannfess, her courage and humour, and her honesty with herself make her one of the most likeable characters of recent fiction. After a few pages the reader forgets that it is fiction; it's a living woman thinking aloud. But no woman would think aloud so candidly. Mr. Morley should win that selSomawarded prize for the man who "understands women."

"Foreign Exchange." By F. J. Docker. P. S. and Son, London; Angus and Robertson, Sydney. The author, a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants, sets out to explain and analyse tlia various methods that are adopted by Governments in matters of foreign exchange, in which innovation and instability have been the principal features in recent years. Such institutions as stabilisation funds, and such terms as "standstill" agreements and "blocked" credits are explained and the whole complex subject is treated with admirable lucidity. "War and the Verities." By Ellsworth Barnard. Angus and Robertson.

"The Treaty of Versailles settled nothing precisely because it was not enforced. The Allies won the war and then threw away the fruits of victory— partly, it is true, because of greed and but far more because of a stupid, humanitarian pacifist refusal to recognise that there still existed in the world evils which can be opposed and checked only by force." The author argues cogently that his fellow-Ameri-cans should realise that "if evil can never be destroyed yet it must always be opposed," and they should enter the war to help the Allies.

"The War in the Light of Prophecy. Is This Armageddon?" By It. S. Neweomb. In this 50-page booklet, published by the Auckland British-Israel Association and printed by the "Auckland Star," Mr. Neweomb says: "Quite unconsciously we are placing this war on a higher plane than any previous war. We are fighting for an ideal. Dimly we realise that Mr. Hore-Belisha is right, and that there is more behind this light than appears on the surface. 'A conflict between the forces of good and evil,' in which the world is the battleground! So we ask ourselves, 'What does it mean? Are men and women just the sports of an inscrutable fate, or behind and overruling all these things is there a plan?' There is a plan," Mr. Neweomb states. "It is revealed in God's Book, the Bible, and the purpose of this booklet is to place the plan before you." "Luke's Circus." By Ruth ManningSanders. Collins.

A fascinating tale on a familiar theme. Luke Castle, escaping from a dingv Yorkshire etf&urb at the age of nine, tries to hide under the flap of a circus tent. His escape is unsuccessful, but his interest in the circus is more reasonable he knows, for it is hereditary. His real name is Lucio Caste.lli, and he is descended from a famous show of that name. His ambition is to revive the Castelli show and be himself a showman. He begins, therefore, by joining Beckett's Circus. In the description of life in this circus there are the colour and excitement which, in spite of its sordidness. are inseparable from the circus and its followers. We have hare the inhabitants —the trick riders, wild beast tamers, acrobats, clowns—with their quarrels and jealousies; their loves and hates, living in a little world of their own, a world which, the author makes very real and important while the book lasts.