NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12849, 6 July 1907, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

"Fraulein Sohmidt and Mm Anstruther" is the , latest work of the clever ajiithor of ''Elizabeth and Her German Garden." It is written in the form of letters, and is one of the most striking exceptions to the general rule that such a mode of tel Line; a story is fated to be wearisome. As a matter of fact, there is not a dull page in the book. Fraulein Schmidt is the daughter of a dear old Professor at Jena. They are poor, and Mr Anstruther, a young Englishman destined for tho diplomatic service, is taken info the house as a student and paying guest. On the eve of his xetunn to BnigJamd! he proposes to tho daughter of tihe house. The latter is thoroughly in love with him, but with womanly prescience divines that when ho gets batik to England ho will form a fresh engagement which his tamily will regard ac more suitable from a worldly point of view. This actually happens, but at the young man a request Fraulein , Sohmidt 1 oontwiuee to correspond with him as a friend. The charm of the let'tera consists in their frankness, their independence, and their humour. They give the most vivid presentments of mdoJalleolas* life in, Germany. It ie long since we read anything more humorous than, the episode of tine little maid Johanna anid her trumpeter lover, or the heroic effort of the Professor and his daughter to adbpt the vegetarian diiet prescribed by Mr Eustace Mike. It may be added that, after a time, jlr Ansiruther, having been thrown over by the JUnglieh heiress in favour of a Duke, desires to return- to his first love, but aihe, with a spirit and independence which tho reader must admire, keeps him at his distance. Not the least attractive feature of the book ie its well-infonnod gossip on literary subjects. (London: Maomiflan and Co.. Ltd. 2a 6d.)

Mr W. W. Jacobs is as fertilo in title? for his books as he is in the evolution ot humorous incidents on which to base his laughter-moving stories. "Short. Craisee," the latest product of his pen., is to the full as amusing as any ot its predecessors. "The Changeling, with which it opens, is as good as any in the book. Mr Goorge Henshaw nay.--ing been caught by his wife in an unguarded moment on tha top of a "bus, philandering with "another lady, makes a desperate attempt to set up a-n alibi. With the unholy connivance of a friend, Mr Stokes, he even goes co far as to disguise himself and to call on his wife in the character of his supposed "double"—a plot which fai.s ns disastrously as it deserves to fail. The other stories are in. Mir Jacobus best vein, and their humour Iβ enhanced by-the illustrations drawn by Mr Will 'Owen, who has entered fully into tho author'e spirit. (London: George Bell and Sons. Christchurch: Fountain Barber, 3e 6d and 2s 6d).

"The Woman" ("Malombra ") is an early work by Antonio Fogazznro, author of "The Saint" and other works which hare had such a wide .popularity. It exhibits tho faults of immature experience, but the genius of the storyteller is fully apparent. It is a grue-' some tale, reminding ono in , some respects of the late Mrs Radcliffe's weird, romances. The heroine, who is a firm believer in reincarnation, lives in a haunted castle with her uncle, a Count, and believes herself to be a reimbodiment of the Count's grandfather's first wife, who was shut up in the castle till she died. Similarly she ■ conceives the idea that Signor Silla, whom the Count desires her to marry, is the reincarnation of a lover of the ill-fated grandmother aforesaid. The story thus nncannily begun ende in "thunder and eclipse"—in other words in murder and suicide. The melodrama is relieved with some fine descriptions. (London: T. Fisher Tn win. Christchurch: Simpson and Williams, 2s 6d.)

"The Secret," by Mr Ti. Phillips Oppenheim, is the story of how a gigantic plot on the part of Germany to conquer England is finally frustrated by an astute end patriotic youmg nvan with the aid of a halsPpenny daily newspaper. The idea ie dlietiTnotly original, inasmuch as our experience of the London halfpenny Prera is that it soems to consider it as its mission in life to provoke -war rather tfhan to prevent it. The plot consists in enticing away the British fleet by an invitation to Kiel, which is to be tlhe srignal for 200,000 ftrUv-fcrained and a lined Germans who are in London io the grcise of the harmless, necessary waiter, to rise and seize tine ciry." There is a pro-G«rman Government in power in England, and the fleet hue actually eet sail wiiea the hero, unab'.e to niake.anT impression on the Prime Minister, invokes the aid of the editor of the '"Daily Oracle-," who instantly prepares his thunderbolts to let ail Europe know what is liappening. The "Waiters' Union" make au attempt to blow up the newspaper office, to prevent the disclosure,

but fortunately do not succeed. Immediately on the appearance of toe article the fleet is recalled by a fast crimer, and England is saved. Incidentally, of course, there is a man with a secret- whom the Germane try to kill, and some love-making, but the plot for the invasion is the poin<t which makes the reader's flesh creep. (London: Ward, Lock and Co., Ltd. Ghristchurch: Fountain Barber. Sβ 6d and, 2s 6d.)

"King Peter,' , by Dion Clayton Calthrop, is a collection of pleasing stories supposed to be incidents in the life of the king of an imaginary little kingdom. He is left an orphan at 4iie ago of three, and the stories take -us up to the. "great climax of his love-making at tho age of twenty. (London: Duckworth and Co. Ghristohurch: Whitcombe and Tombs. 2s 6d.)