NEW FICTION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29524, 27 May 1961, Page 3

NEW FICTION

The Front Door Key. By John Brophy. Heinemann. 223 pp. The situation which John Brophy has chosen to develop in his latest novel is not a new one. Eleanor Kent has one priceless possession, a painting, a voluptuously beautiful nude by Tintorelto. It had been left to her by her husband; and, as might be imagined, it is something of an embarrassment. In the first chapter of the book someone has been trying, unsuccessfully, to steal it. Mrs Kent comes to the conclusion that she would be happier if she could sell it to some wealthy collector or to the National Gallery. Her difficulty is solved, however, when an art historian. James Hogan, discovers that the picture is not by Tintorelto after all. It is an imitation of the master by one Guiscppe Porta and consequently instead of being worth a quarter of a million pounds, it may be worth two or three thousands. This is a disappointment for Mrs Kent, but as some compensation she can console herself with Hogan's pleasure in her company. Mr Brophy has written a light but urbane and amusing novel. He knows a great deal about art and about critics and connoisseurs.

hue Crowther’s Marriage. By Thomas Armstrong. Collins. 511 pp. This is a novel planned and executed on the most generous lines. It is part of a family saga well known to many novel readers already, but this time Mr Armstrong writes of the present. His characters are paragons of their kind. Both Sue the heroine and Archie the hero are married to unsuitable partners when the book opens. They are in love with one another, but their subsequent conduct is without reproach. A great deal of the novel is taken up with financial operations, and these are on the grand scale; the amounts mentioned run into thousands of pounds. Archie himself is engaged upon no ordinary task. He is concerned with nothing less than the salving of a great battleship hopelessly ashore on the coast of Yorkshire. There are hosts of characters, comic, romantic and picaresque, and the plot is a sequence of ingenious tangles. In its design this novel is. no doubt, oldfashioned: but no-one could deny that it gives value for the money. The Scar. By Bruce Lowery. Allen and Unwin. 160 PP“The Scar" is a sad little novel, first written by its bilingual author in French and now translated by him into English. It had considerable success in France, wheee no doubt its detached style and stern realism would commend it. The narrator of the story is a small boy with a hare-lip. At first he is happy in his home life; but at school he is teased and bullied by the other children. The effect of this is disastrous. for he is a sensitive boy and no weakling to be cowed by circumstances. But persecution changes him. His behaviour to his parents becomes deceitful and cruel. Finally, as the result of a frightful accident, he brings about the death of the boy he liked most, the boy who had always been his protector. At that 'point “The Scar” ends, leaving the sympathetic reader with no feeling of comfort or assurance. Mr Lowery is a formidable writer, nevertheless.

The Grey Ones. By Johi Lymington. Hodder an< Stoughton. 160 pp. John Lymington is one o' the leading exponents o! what is called horror-sciencc fiction. In his latest novel “The Grey Ones.” a mysterious scientist called Venus invents a machine which can inject thoughts into peoples minds by "high frequencyradio penetration." Venus, however, has not counted on all the extra effects that may be produced by the action of his infernal machine. When the book opens. Jim Mauston, who is in a relatively normal frame of mind, is nearly lynched by his village friends As a result of Venus' experiment. they have been infected with blood lust. Then, as if this is not enough. Venus has also disturbed the balance of the plant kingdom. Everything that stays still is buried under grass and ivy or seized and choked by tree branches. From these horrifying ingredients Mr Lymington has put together a pursuit story that covers only an hour or so, but which contains enough raw emotion to last a lifetime. Venus himself is the biggest enigma in The Grey Ones.’’ Few readers will guess where he came from, and fewer still will foresee the means the author devises to get rid of him "The GreyOnes’’ is not a very likely story; but no-one could deny its ingenuity.

Thunderball. Bv lan Fleming. Jonathan Cape. 256 pp. For eight years now. Mr Fleming has churned out a book a year dealing with the adventures of that stalwart pillar of the Secret Service, James Bond In the latest volume of the series, Mr Fleming shows he has realised he is on to a good thing, resting contentedly on his bed of springy laurels. Here Bond is up against the forces not of SMERSH, but of SPECTRE (Mr Fleming is as familiar with abbreviated titles as a clerk in the United Nations), a gang of international crooks run with all the efficiency of a big business organisation, who steal, naturally enough, an atomic bomb, without the slightest difficulty. Bond has to find it. This is all we need to know, for Bond’s adventures follow the same stereotyped pattern of the seven earlier works, and in tfte process he runs the gamut of all the possible adjuncts to living, from ingenious torture to expensive after-shave lotion. A Break In The Weather. ByFlorence Jane Soman. Jarrolds. 246 pp. ‘‘A Break in the Weather” is a story of family life in New York. It is well-planned and entertaining, just like a longer version of one of the better serials in “Collier's Magazine’’ or “The Saturday Evening Post.” The stifling summer weather makes everyone nervous, and intensifies worries and antagonisms. Poor Henry Marshall, assistant treasurer of a small Long Island bank, realises once again that he is a failure. His'elder daughter Claire is in love with a young man from “a fine old Boston family,” and she is sure he must despise her for being socially inferior. The younger girl Joanie wants to go to an expensive summer camp; but Henry just cannot find the money to pay for it. In the glare of the summer weather Mrs Marshall, Fran, takes stock of the shabby house

nd the familiar furniture She wonders if there :sn’ nyth:ng she could sell for ; ew hundred dollars. O 'ourse. a story like this on ’’.as to have a happy ending Ifter many days there is ; break in the weather. Henr; was getting desperate, bu '.hen unexpectedly he is mad< assistant vice-president of thi bank. He can refurnish thf house for Claire and Frar and send Joanie off to th. country. As they put it in banking circles, he is the Man of the Hour. It will bi apparent that "A Break ir the Weather” is not withou* a certain simple charm. Fiestas. By Juan Goytisolo Mac Gibbon and Kee 246 pp.

This is a novel of contem porary Spain, which owes much to the example set bj Andre Gide in "The Counterfeiters” and "The Vatican Caves.” Mr Goytisolo has the same wayward children who veer uncertainly between the respectable suburbs and the slums. Pipe is a boy who can certainly be described as emotionally upset; instead of attending to his lessons he devotes most of his time to going about with a grotesque figure from the underword who answers to no name but that of "Gorilla.” Much of "Fiestas” is taken up with descriptions of the picaresque adventures of Pipo and "Gorilla” in the cafes and wine shops of a great Spanish port, probably Barcelona. But the police are also on the watch for “Gorilla,” for he had killed one of their number when he was surprised on the beach and under arrest for a trivial offence. In the finish, as might be expected, it is Pipo who betrays him, for Pipo has another friend. Gonsalez, a corporal of police. Interwoven through the main theme is the pitiful story of a little girl, Pira. Pira is imaginative; she wants to go off to Italy to present a bouquet to the Pope. Unfortunately she is trusting and is done to death by a sadistic cripple, who is posing as a pilgrim himself. The most cheerful thing about “Fiestas” is the title. Golk. By Richard G. Stern. Mac Gibbon and Kee. 207 PP. “Golk” is an over-ripe fantasy on a group of themes connected with the television industry in New York—overripe. because about half way through it disintegrates. Golk is an eccentric character, who prowls about with his TV apparatus, catching ordinary people in embarrassing and revealing circumstances. Golk’s ingenuity is remarkable 'and. incidentally, so is his creator’s power of invention). The trouble begins when Golk .aims, higher and-moves over to Washington. There he catches one Of the President's confidential advisers off guard. His next victim is a Congress committeeman; and then a powerful trade-union leader, “Dove-Eyes” Castelvetro, swallows his bait. All these reveal their weaknesses in ludicrous situations that have been carefully contrived for them. Of course, the effect is sensational; but Golk does not realise that this time he has gone too far. His programme is censored, and he himself is quietly dismissed. He is last seen working as a property man on set in Hollywood. The minor characters in the book begin well; but Mr Stern becomes almost hysterical in trying to make them all original at all costs. He spoils a brilliant satire by being too clever.