NEW FICTION

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27374, 12 June 1954, Page 3

NEW FICTION

Leopards and Lilies. By Alfred Duggan. Faber and Faber. 268 pp.

The thirteenth century Is a period not much in favour with historical novelists, who usually prefer the more easily accessible seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The age of Henry the Third and Simon de Montfort offers scope for a vivid and fast moving story but it also demands a knowledge of the complicated issues involved in the Barons’ Wars and the beginnings of parliamentary institutions. In “Leopards and Lilies” Mr Duggan shows not only an understanding of his period but an ability to put his knowledge to use in presenting a vivid picture of a little known era. Margaret Fitzgerald the 14-year-old widow of the Earl of Devon’s heir, is married with only her formal consent to Falkes de Brealte, one of the toughest of King John’s mercenary captains. Though not particularly pleased with her marriage she uses it as best she can to further the only real interest of her life—safeguarding the inheritance of her son, the infant Earl of Devon. She follows Falkes’s fortunes for seven years, she is at his side during one of his greatest triumphs, the siege of Lincoln. / But when he falls from power and is banished, she deserts him. Mr Duggan is not concerned merely to tell the story of an epoch; Margaret Fitzgerald is a finely drawn picture of a cold-hearted ana calculating woman, who is not merely content to put her interests before her affections, but who has in fact no affections but for her own interests. She dominates the book and she is the more convincing in that her thoughts and affectations are couched in the idiom of her period. The author very wisely does not attempt anything like contemporary speech, but writes in 20th century phrase; the effect is far more successful than arty possible effort at rendering “old English.” The Iron Cobweb. By Ursula Curtis. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 224 pp'. Elizabeth March, with every outward reason to feel safe and secure, found herself becoming more and more afraid; of what she was unable to say, but she was quite convinced soon by tangible evidence that malevolent influences were at work. Was it that her husband wished her out of the way, was her hard-working housekeeper jealous, or was it her dear friend Lucy, or worse still, her own morbidly disturbed mind? She slowly breaks through the cobwebs of fear ,to find the real truth. Miss Curtis has written a first-class novel of suspense, in which a slowly mounting and skilfully suggested atmosphere of tension and suspicion reaches a plausible climax. It grips the reader with its suggestion of menacing and ill-defined terror.

THE END OF AN OLD SONG, by J. D. Scott (Eyre and Spottiswoode) is fundamentally a story of changing values. Alastair, the dominant character of the book, represents the new and strident; Patrick his friend attachment to the past. Catherine—loved by both men—hovers like so many in uncertainty. The symbol of tradition is Kingisbyres, the old Scottish house around which they all grow up. Alastair pursues his ambition relentlessly and coldly and as a final gesture on the old world and goes to live where he feels more at home. Patrick, gentler and calmer, prefers satisfaction to success, and clings to the romantic attitude. The story is beautifully written with a gentle but incisive irony and a subtle wit. Mr Scott is a writer of considerable talent and uses his gifts to tell a tale that is worth telling. GOLD IN THE DUST, by Mary Myers. (Hutchinson. 191 pp.), is a conventional story of an adopted Child. Judith Carr, whose urhappiness at learning the truth about her parentage leads her into unfortunate love affair but who ultimately finds relief from tension in- the dual consolations of religion and marriage. Miss Myers has the ability to create reasonably convincing characters as she shows from time to time in the book, particularly in her portrait of the up and coming young man Harry; it is all the more pity therefore she spoils some talent for writing by a reliance on emotional cliches and outworn situations. FOR WORSE, by Angela Jeans <Fdber. 226 pp.). is a story with the somewhat over-popular theme of domestic difficulty. Beppo a novelist, and her husband Leonardo buy and attempt to renovate a large old house in London. The process of renovation is held up not only by the usual postwar difficulties of lack of labour and material but bv Leonardo’s attempting to write a play, the arrival of a mother-in-law and almost incessaht auarrels between husband and wife. The background characters are the usual stock ones of stupid workmen z and intriguing blondes. Leonardo is erring but lovable, we are to understand: the erring is clear enough, he spends most of the book either drinkin? too much or being rude to his wife, but the lovableness is rather harder to understand. Beppo has presumably to put up with her husband s tedium but it is a little haVd that the reader should have to do the same.