NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17633, 9 December 1922, Page 13

NEW BOOKS AND PUBLICATIONS.

NEW NOVELS. "Mainspring: The Growth of a Soul," by V. H. Friedlaender, is a first novel, though the author is wellknown as a short story writer. "Mainspring" is the history of the spiritual development of Bridget Gale, a woman of genius, but at first lacking the soul to give the real expression to her art. The argument of the book, rather an original one, is that in every sou! there is a mainspring—love of God or man, of science, art, power, or money—and that if the mainspring breaks, the will breaks, too. It takes Bridget twenty years of bitter unhappiness and suffering to grope her way to the realisation of her own mainspring, and even when she does find it, one does not by any means feel certain that her happiness is going to last. To say the least of it, "Mainspring" is a very doleful affair, one long recital of tragic unhappiness and misery, and though Miss Friedlaender shows considerable thought, imagination and technical, ability, she still has a good deal to learn in the art of novel writing. Some of her characters are rather improbable, her best effort being Bridget's sister Ann, whose quiet, loving, and intensely unselfish nature is admirably portrayed. (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs; London: W. Collins, Sons, and Co.). In "Turkey Bowman," Homer Croy has created a character almost worthy to rank with Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. "Turkey" takes one back to the romantic days of one's first love affair. The tragic realisation that his ardour is not reciprocated proves too much for him, and he runs away, falls in with a doleful cowboy also "fed up with women," and then adventures fall upon him thick and fast. "With "Addie's little shirt" as his talisman he covers himself with glory in an Indian rising, and returns to the plaudits of his pioneer fellow-towns-men, a conquering hero. The book is full of whimsical humour, honest fun, and stirring adventure, and is written in a delightfully easy manner, frequently reminiscent of Mark Twain, which will make it a pleasure to young and old alike. (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs; London and New York: Harper and Brothers, Ltd.). • In "Flowing Gold" Bex Beach gives us an exciting story of the Texas oilfields, in the hectic days of the early discoveries when fortunes were made — and sometimes lost —in a day. .The central figure of the book is a remarkable adventurer, Calvin Gray, who has picked up experience in many patts of the world, and is discovered, when the story opens, occupying the most expensive suite in the best hotel in Dallas, with about 37 cents in his pocket, and no immediate prospect ot enriching himself, even to the extent necessary for the payment of his hotel bill. But one knows that Gray was not so early introduced, in the character allotted to him, for the mere of being subjected to exposure. He is certain to "make good," and, of course, does so. He is a curious mixture of differing qualities—an adventurer who compels his associates in oil-well enterprises to act honestly, a man full of the most generous human charity, and yet inspired by a venomous hatred of a certain other man whose ruin he seeks with vigour and eventual-suc-cess. There is a charming youiig lady estate agent who wins his heart, and a vast uncouth, uneducated daughter of a poor farmer who "strikes it rich," and finds his wealth more worry than was his former poverty. To this family Calvin Gray acts the part of a genuine good Samaritan. It is an interesting, and as we have said, exciting story, though perhaps hardly up to the level of some of Bex Beach's Alaskan stories. (Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs; London: Hodder and Stoughton.).