NEW FICTION

Press, Volume C, Issue 29554, 1 July 1961, Page 3

NEW FICTION

Has Anybody Seen My; Father? By Harrison ] Kinney. Longman*. Green: & Co., 304 w. Perhaps not since Clare Boothe Luce wrote “Thej Women" has a savage re- 1 velation of the female species been served up so entertainingly as in this “story of a man alone in a woman's world.” It is a first novel and one instinctively turns to the dust-jacket to discover how the author learnt about career-women's mental processes and tactics in the cut-throat world of the popular magazine. A brief statement indicates that he is well-equipped to deal with his chosen theme and hints that he has been itching to get it down on paper. Mr Kennedy dissects the female with the confident accuracy of a master surgeon of deep clinical knowledge,. and. like the best of surgeons, pours out compassion .tenderness and humour to offset the shocks of incision. The story concerns Walter Hinsdale, a young architect editing an architectural feature in a magazine for women run by I women’s emotional methods, [ Walter’s home-life is also a' hot-house of women, composed of harassed wife, four small daughters and cantakerous mother-in-law. The dizzy pace at which Walter is driven is told largely in startling frank and brilliant dialogue of sophisticated wit. So well is the exhausting atmosphere of clamouring females and Walter’s struggles against engulfment created. that even his throbbing headaches threaten the reader. The fantastic creatures bom of New York’s competitive jungle of advertising promotion and publishing are bitingly characterised and one has the uncomfortable feeling that they are not overdrawn. The Harmless Albatross. By lan Niall. Heinemann. 248 pp. The hero of this book—if indeed it can be said to have a hero —is John Roland Williams. Like the Ancient Mariner in Coleridge's poem, he brings ill fortune, though all he wants to do is to enjoy himself. Eight years before the story opens, he deserted his wife and family and left his native Welsh village to follow the sea. Since then he (has lived a sailor’s life, driftlirj from ship to ship, from 'one port to another. Then one 1 day in Liverpool a sudden feeling comes over him that : he should go back to 1 Mochnant and see what is • happening there The news ■ of the prodigal’s return . spreads consternation. For I one thing his wife has been • living for six years with Tom 1 Parker, who is the father of ; her child. Parker, however. > has his own troubles, and . half way through the book. before John Roland arrives. ’ he is taken off to hospital : with a bad head injury. When ■ Roland does get back to ’ Mochnant, he is already in I trouble: the police are waitI ing for him. his father is on his death-bed. and his wife : is terrified at the sight of him. Wearing the handcuffs, but quite philosophical about : the situation. Roland leaves ■ Mochnant once again, but this time for ever. “The Harmless Albatross” is the work of an : accomplished novelist with a • dry humorous style that is uncommonly amusing. The Unsleep. By Diana and Meir Gilion. Barrie and Rockliff. 246 pp. The title of this novel gives 1 the key to its subject. It is the world of the future, and scientists have been able to get 1 rid of the need for sleep, so adding eight more hours to ; every day. All the T.V. screen are advertising “StaWake" injections, “which : add thirty years to your life.” Only a few people here and there hold out against this new drug. Outstanding among these die-hards are Peter Gregory and his wife Francisca, who try hard to lead a ' normal, old fashioned life ■ But England is more like I Bedlam than anything else. • The whole world seems to ■ have gone mad in the pursuit : of pleasure. Those who would ■ sleep cannot, for the noise of gaiety is strident and con i tinuous. Finally, as the reI suit of emotional complica- ; tions. both husband and wife . succumb. Then when it is too . late they realise that much ’ more than a drug is needed ’ to solve their problems. In [ fact it takes all the ingenuity ; of two authors to bring hero and heroine together again as ordinary human beings in the ’ final chapter. Besides: “Sta- ' Wake." "The Unsleep” has all the usual paraphernalia of 1 science fiction, and, of course, ! robots and a virus from Mars ’ are not omitted. I New Man in Lowuni. By John Fores. Hodder and Stoughton. 256 pp. II .i Mr Fores has written a I straightforward adventure ■ story which makes use of i contemporary problems in i West Africa. Tire native ■ peoples are restless; their at- [ titude to the Europeans still ■ remaining in the country is at times openly contemptu- . ous. This, at least, is what s Tom Wingham finds when he ■ touches down at Lowuni. The .! aeroplane he is flying is a - new one. for he intends to II go into partnership with Ray Dixon, who had been a fel.[low pilot during the war [ years. They are planning to consolidate and expand an | air-charter company which • Dixon has already been operJating for some time. How<ever, Wingham soon discovers that his partner has some rather dubious projects of his own to further. Nor is the situation made any eas- . ier by the interest Juiie i Dixon takes in the new- ■ comer. After that it does . not take the author long to , sweep his readers into the ■ excitement of illicit diamond I smuggling, which is the real [ theme of the novel. ‘‘New . Man in Lowuni” is remark - ■ able for its gallery of vil- . lains—Fassler is an Amerii can, Bukit Baran is a Syrian, and Ranu Oilman Gawone, ■ the most accomplished scoun- ■ Idrel in the book, is a full-] ‘blooded African. Among I them they contrive plenty] i of action for Tom Wingham. I

Fido Conchant. By F. B. Abercrombie. Goliancz. 239 pp. The premise that monogamy is an unacceptable precept in the modern code of ethics relieves this delicately amoral novel of any hint of crudity or spurious romanticism. Two couples, one of them prosperous, the other I rather sordidly penurious, are I devoted friends. Neither pair] is particularly happy, but! whereas economic circum-! stance and the possession of) two endearing little boys| have kept Stanley and Emma Bonsor within uneasy bonds of virtuous wedlock, the auc-I cessful journalist. Darcy Greenaway und his wife. 1 Beatrice, have grown apartl in a civilised unemotional] fashion, and each enjoys an! occasional illicit amour. Only i when Darcy and Emma are thrown together by fortuitous circumstances does anything resembling genuine passion rear its head. Stanley's blind selfishness, and his innocent but frightening involvement with a dirty and lascivious little drab combine to resolve a difficult emotional situation in a satisfactory I way. The canine devotion' of the mongrel, Fido, to Stan-; Iley’s expensive poodle bitch, and the mysterious comings and goings of that archswindler, Mr Finger, to whom Beatrice is secretary, both play a part in a comedy of manners which is as original as it is witty and refreshing. A Place Apart. By David Lytton. Macgibbon and Kee. 300 pp. It is as well perhaps for the world’s conscience that writers should stress the tragedy of certain inarticulate minorities. This is a sympathetic study of a Cape Coloured youth who might have risen to the stature his talents merited in a less colourconscious society. In the event, Stephanne’s short life was to see a series of betrayals. Living in a dreary slum with his mother’s African folks he was savaged one day by four white boys and the injuries they inflicted on him resulted in his being rendered impotent. A poet and a priest, with kindly enough intentions. arranged for the boy who had shown signs of literary gifts, to go and live in the former's house as partpupil, part servant, and in this ambiguous capacity he grew up becoming more and more aware of his baffling and sombre destiny. His nearly white skin led to his launching out almost by accident as a European—and the embarrassing love of a white girl for whom he could have no reciprocative feeling, combined with the poet’s sudden capricious abandonment of him hastened an inevitable tragedy. His final gesture of defiance of a world which would not accept him is a masterpiece of irony. The author’s style, with its jerky phrases, and self-conscious mannerisms is irritating, but his handling of his subject is authoritative and impressive. Look, Stranger. By Rosemary Manning. Cape. 288 pp. “Look Stranger” is a story of island life: but the island is off the south coast of England, and its speciality seems to be the production of original characters. To begin with there is an underworld of island types, notable for their ignorance and malice. A little apart from these is a small group of more enlightened people, a schoolmaster. a hard-drinking artist, and. of course. Zibie Acutt, who keeps a tobacconnist’s shop and sometimes takes epileptic fits. Miss Manning’s island could be a paradise; but in fact its smallness concentrates the natural viciousness of an enclosed community. Moat of the islanders despise Zibie; she is “different” from them and is fated to be their chosen victim. The story is told almost in the gentle tones Jane Austen would have employed. Only when the book is closed does the I reader understand how nasty I a story it really is. It will I be obvious that “Look. Stranger" is a most unusual I book. The Day of the Sardine. By Sid Chaplin. Eyre and Spottiswoode. 286 pp. This is a vivid novel, full of sharp observation of the darker side of life in the industrial Midland... Throughout the book Arthur Haggerston speaks for himself He is having a hard time.! working on a coal-delivery vacj, learning to make bread, carrying cases in a fruit store. His spare time was mostly spent on the streets, where he went about with! the usual aimless gangs. But! / thur liked to think about: his experiences and this reflective turn of mind made people suspicious of him. As a result, when he was old ! enough to be implicated in ■something really serious, he [ soon found himself in a positive maelstrom of troubles During the second halt of the book he was even suspected of having committed a murder. By the time he took a job in the sardine factory he was in a position to look on life with scepticism. and a measure of wisdom. Sid Chaplin writes in an apparently off-hand style; but this does not really conceal his sympathy with the unfortunate. Although the New Zealand I coastline from North Cape to Tauranga is renowned as one of the world’s finest cruising grounds, very little has been published about it for the amateur sailor. Now a complete, illustrated guide to this area is to ’be issued by the Pegasus Press. Entitled “Cruising in New Zealand Waters,” it is written by an Auckland yachtsman. G. R. Paul. The author, who at present is commanding officer of the R.N.Z.N. fisheries’ patrol vessel Manga, began sailing small boats at the age of 11 in New Plymouth harj bour. Later he represented i his province as skipper or I crew in several national [contests, including the Mof- ; fat Cup and Frostbite chamI pionships. A