NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 12897, 31 August 1907, Page 7

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

The "New Chronicles of Rebecca," by Mrs Kate Douglas Wiggin, are simply delightful. Rebecca Rowcna Randall is a quaint little girl, with a strong literary bent, living in, New England village with two very practical aunts —Aunt Miranda, severe and unbending, esp3cially in the matter of hats, which she forces poor little Rebecca to wear—and Aunt Jane, who seems to be more indulgent and at the same timo more self-effacing, since, sho appears very little in tho picture. It is difficult to say whether pathos or humour is the stronger foaturo of the book, since both aro admirably blended. We lind ourselves alternately laughing and crying over the quaint conceits of this strange little girl, who certainly manages to diffuse a good deal of hap-pinc-3 wherever she goes. On© of the most touching of tho chronicles is that entitled "Tho Green Isle," in which Rebecca, finding that people in the village are "not nice" to poor Mrs Simpson because sho has no _ wedding ring, procures one and sends it in her innocence to that good-for-nothing person, Mr Abner Simpson, with the result that it awakens a gleam of conscience in his seared heart, nnd impels him to do justice to the poor woman, bringin. peace and comfort to her soul just' before she was called away to mother world. It is a moving story, oxquisitclv told. (London: Archibald Constable and Co.. Ltd. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs, 2s 6d.).

"A Human Trinity," by Ronald Macdonald, may perhaps be described as a .society novel. It is cleverly told, and much of the character-drawing is excellent, but we cannot snv that wo care for the theme. An illegitimate son wet* hw father for the first time, when he (the son) is Howards of twenty years of age. is led to divine the vcret of his birth owing to tho talk about tho likeness between the two. - .scovers that the lady who brought him no as ostensibly her nephew, is really his mother, ami the book ends with a belated marriage, while nt the son's instisation, a public announcement is recardin. tho facts of tbe case. (London: Metbuen and Co. Hiristchnrch: Whitcombo and i'ombs, 2s 6d).

As was the case with the New Zcalanders, tho South African Rugby footballers had not long returned home before a history of their tour of Great Britain and Ireland last season was published. Tho work, which appears under the title 'The Springboks: history of the Tour, 1906-7," is compiled by Mr F. Neville Piggott, sporting editor of the "Daily 'telegraph.]' The greater portion of the volume is devoted to reports of the games played, a table of results, extracts from English uewspapers, and an account of the reception tendered to tho members ot the team on their return to Capetown. In his introduction, Mr Piggott offei& some general remarks as to the lessons of the tour, and also deals \itith the characteristics of the team, both individually and collectively. Mr Piggott is evidently a whole-hearted admirer of the Ixnith Africans, and although he says it seems almost unfair to attempt a comparison, he is .inclined to place the Springboks on an even higher plane than the "All Blacks," notwithstanding that in another passage ho expresses the opinion that the South African forwards lacked tho consistency and fino all-round qualities of the New Zealand pack. That, however, is a point that may bo left for c'iscussicu to followers of the game, to whom tho book will make its strongest appeal. (London and Capetown. \V. Dawson and Sons, Ltd. Christchurch; Gordon and Gotch, Ltd.)

"King Midas," by Upton Sinclair, has rather a curious history. It was the author's first novel, and was written when he was 21. Being unable to find a publisher for it, he printed it himself under the title of "Springtime and Harvest," and gave it to the world with a pathetic little preface in which he told how hard ho had worked over it. The book was taken up by a publishing house, and brought out under its present title, and tho author afterwards wrote an account of the somewhat amusing difference in the reception of the two publications. "Springtime and Harvest" was reviewed by thirteen papers, and praised by five of them; while "King Midas" was reviewed by over a hundred papers and praised by nearly ninety. There ia, of course, nothing wonderful in the fact that a book by an utterly unknown writer attracted little attention on its first appearance compared with the notice it received when the author by his Chicago revelations had created "a sensation circling the globe. What does give us some surprise is the fact that "King Midas" has been praised by ninety per cent, of the papers by which it has been reviewed. It shows undoubted power, but strikes us as being crude, and, in parts, very much overstrained. Tho theme is somewhat out of the common. A foundling boy, brought up by a clergyman in a village near New York, proves a young man of independent spirit and worth as he grows up, and falls in love with the minister's daughter, Helen. She does not return his affection, but marries, instead, an older man. They live together happily for some time, when a wretched outcast niakes her appearance. She is the woman whom Helen's husband had ruined and abandoned, md it then turns out that Arthur is his and her son.. The book ends with .1 seen© of tragic intensity. (London: William Heinemann, 2s 6d.)