Literary Views & Reviews NEW FICTION

Press, Volume CV, Issue 30983, 12 February 1966, Page 4

Literary Views & Reviews NEW FICTION

The Waters Under The Earth. By John Moore. Collins. 446 pp.

John Moore stands out among modem English novelists for his ability to capture natural beauty of the English countryside. Readers who delighted in the atmosphere created in such novels as “The White Sparrow” and “September Moon” will be equally pleased with his latest novel “The Waters Under The Earth.” Mr Moore deals here with an old English family, the Seldons, who have lived in Dodington Manor since the Armada. More particularly he is concerned with Susan Seldon who watches the decay of the Manor and its surrounding woods and whose parents, unable to cope with the social changes of the 1950 s and 60s take refuge in dreams of the past The inevitability of progress with its advantages and disadvantages is constantly stressed but reading this novel one realises that Mr Moore, like Susan's parents feels a deep nostalgia for the gracious old order, for the time when a centuries-old oak was of more importance than a new motor-w-ay. Mr Moore does not overstress this: he is able to convey the excitement of the future as well as his regret for the past, but he does occasionally allow himself to be a little too sentimental over the passing of the old ways. The novel is marred a trifle by some laboured analogies, for example the continually stressed equating of the Seldons with the vanishing grey squirrels and the Fentons, an ambitious new Socialist family with the red squirrels who have driven out the grey. Yet the novel holds the attention partly by Mr Moore’s descriptions of country scenes (especially the old novels) and country life, and partly through interest in the main characters, for Susan and her parent, Ferdo and Janet, are all fully-drawn characters with whom one. feels sympathy. This novel is not for those who like a fast actionpacked story. The pace is slow but the portrayal of life, in the countryside which Moore so obviously loves is! rich, full and pleasant. Strangers and Comrades. By I Alfred Slote. W. H. Allen. 473 pp.

This book might be compared superficially to a modern “War and Peace” from the point of view of its theme and more particularly from its length but there the resemblance to the classical work ends.

The novel opens on Pearl Harbour Day and describes the impact of World War II op as varied a set of characters that one is likely to meet. The plot is intricate since the eight or nine main characters meet as strangers and but for the upheaval of war would have remained as such. A tremendous amount of action is packed into this lengthy novel and the rapid shifts of plot and scene are handled by the author with consummate skill. Too easily the main theme,- the desola-

tion and compassion of war, could have been lost. Despite the main theme, this is not just another war novel. One is always aware of the backdrop of war but a backdrop it regains. If the reader has the time to digest novels of such length, there is something to be gained from this one. The Crooked and the Narrow. By R. Clarice Robertson. Whltcombe and Tombs 192 pp.

In this story about Mona Lee and the three men in her life most readers will feel irritation rather than sympathy or liking. Forced by hostile opinion into a distasteful marriage to an uncouth lout, Mona’s future looks bleak indeed. Just before her baby is born her husband deserts her. Rather than return to her home where she had been unhappy under the cruel domination of a narrow, mean-spirited stepsister. Janet, she takes refuge with the second man in her life. After his death she moves to the nearest town where she brings up her two daughters as best she can in straitened circumstances. There the third man appears and she is supposed to find the true meaning of love. It is hard to credit a nebulous, self-centred creature with such a warm emotion.

The Joyous Season. By Patrick Dennis. Arthur Barker. 230 pp.

i No-one could have guessed, least of all Kerry, aged 10. or his sister Missy, six, that the premature opening of their Christmas presents would result in an explosion which would blast mom’s and daddy’s marriage. The children are sent to “Gran” in her big old house in the country, where they wreck Gran’s peaceful existence and that of her important country friends. Sent to their other grandmother “Ga-ga” (so she likes to be called), who lives in a small city flat which overflows with the children, a dachshund and Ga-ga's beaux, they contrive to create as much havoc as they had to Gran. In the meantime Mom and Daddy are on their way to divorce and remarriage. Mom has acquired a suitor, a lawyer, very handsome, very righteous and incredibly boring: Daddy has ! been caught by a socialclimbing, beautiful fashionmagazine editor. Things work out to a hilarious conclusion which brings happiness to all. This is a refreshingly funny book which will be acclaimed by readers who enjoy Mr Dennis’s brand of humour. For a Dream’s Sake. By Hermina Black. Hodder and Stoughton. 220 pp.

On the death of her doctor father, Leonie Rutherford gives up her nursing career and takes over a tea-shop in the village where she and her sister, Careen, had been born. It was to make a home for her sister that Leonie had given up the career she loved. But as soon as she was old enough Careen took a job as secretary-companion and went to Europe. Leonie, in the meantime had fallen in love

' with Ivo Varden, a young doctor from the local hospital. The unexpected return of Careen; the swift transference of Ivo’s affection to the newcomer; Leonie’s return to London to work as secretary to a famous doctor: what happens to Ivo and Careen and how Leonie eventually finds happiness make up this predictable story.

The First Time I saw Paris. By Anne Pilgrim. Ableard Schuman. 191 pp.

Roberta, 18 and very unhappy after the death of her father, accepts an aunt's invitation to assist her for a few months with her small boarding school for English and American children in Paris. Edward Heron, a friend from childhood days, whose interest in Roberta has deepened with the years, strongly disapproves. On her trip to Paris, Roberta is given the custody of two jealous stepsisters who are even more lonely and miserable than she is herself. The school work is hard and the hours long but Roberta does find time to explore the city and renew the acquaintance of Margot, a French student, and through her meet charming, handsome Philippe. Roberta falls in love with Paris and with Philippe but the course of true-love does not run smoothly for her and there is trouble ahead before she finds lasting happiness.

Emergency in the Pyrenees. Bv Ann Bridge. Chatto & Windus. 252 pp.

Readers of Ann Bridge’s earlier stories featuring attractive Julia Probyn, will meet her as Julia Jamieson in this new book. Philip Jamieson, sent to the Middle East on a special mission, decides that Julia, who is expecting their first child, shall go to his house in a remote village in the Pyrenees. He speaks glowingly of the sun, the view, the quiet, the wonderful air, but fails to realise that Julia, in her condition, might find the primitive arrangements more than trying. Well written and exciting in a quiet way, this book is a pleasure to read, <