Literary Views & Reviews NEW FICTION

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31676, 11 May 1968, Page 4

Literary Views & Reviews NEW FICTION

Th* Seduction.. By Aled Vaughan. Victor Gollancz. 160 PP-

The letting of this novel is a small lonely farm in Wales. Living here are the old man of 80 and his grand-daughter, Alice, a beautiful young woman of 26. They are the only two of the family left and between them is a deep understanding and affection. The old man cannot speak—his tongue was cut out during the First World War—and he now spends all his time in his bedroom up in the loft, gently tended by Alice. His only desire is for a great-grand-ehild. Otherwise his life will have been to no avail and he will have no stake in the future. To the farm comes one day a stranger, Martin Foreman, seeking shelter and food. He stays on to help about the place and quickly makes a niche for himself. In fact, he is a man with a prison record —a thief, a common criminal —a* they soon discover, for the neighbours are not slow to come with the news. Although the old man never feaves his loft, he knows very wen everything that is going on, for his window overlooks a good deal of the firm, and tn the door, by his bed, is a hole he uses for watching all that happens in the livingroom below. He misses very little and his thoughts as he fills out the actions of others reveal a compassion and wisdom that are infinitely appealing—he is a kindly, pathetic and very lovable old man. Ohly Alice can give him the great-grandchild he wants so badly, and only Martin seems likely to appeal to Alice sufficiently for marriage, so Martin must stay, in spite of the police and their cautions, the villagers and their uneasiness, even the old man’s own distrust, almost fear of him—“the strength of the man is rooted in his selfishness.” Alice and Martin decide to marry to make Martin’s presence on the farm more ac-.

ceptable to the villagers. And then comes the startling climax to the story exposing the disastrous consequences of “seduction” harboured in the irrational mind of a neurotie. Now the full relevancy of the introductory quotation from Andre Gide becomes apparent “If I were truly capable of prayer, I should cry out to God; permit me to need only yea Seductions of the flesh are less distracting than those of the heart and mind.” Aled Vaughan la. a director and scriptwriter for Welsh television. This, his first novel, is beautifully written with a poetical Utt and a simplicity of language that fittingly emphasise hi* knowledge of the underlying motives of human behaviour.

Sweet Sister Seduced. By S. B. Hough. Gellana. 191 pp.

The author says of this book that it la not a “who-dono-tt” but rather a “did-he-do-rt" In alternate chapters we are given the events leading to the death of Elizabeth Milham and the step* which Detective IMpqrpw Brentford has followed in coming to a decision to arrest her husband for murder. Milham relates the twisted and

tragic story of his married life to the inspector to persuade him to accept the coroner's verdict of suicide and not to make what certainly looks as though it will be an impending arrest Many years before, Milham and his young wife had arrived in the small town of Lockley where he was to begin work in an accountant’s office. Eventually he became a partner in the firm; reached a respected and influential position in the business community; his children grew up, got married, and departed; he was about to buy out his senior partner; and it looked as though he and bis wife would enjoy the autumn of their lives comfortably and uneventfully. His wife’s mental condition, however, seemed to deteriorate under the influence of an extreme evangelistic sect which she had joined and she drowned herself. After a while the leader of this sect accused Milham of murder, but was unprepared to tell the police all that he alleged that Mrs Milham had told him about her husband and about her life with him. In order to scotch even a suspicion about a respected citizen, Inspector Brentford mad* preliminary enquiries. Strange discrepancies were revealed about Mr Milham, and more were hinted at; and this twopronged tale of the investigation and what Milham himself reveals of his strange and pitiful life is told with impressive technical skill and human understanding. Both in content and in skilled writing, Mr Hough has produced a very fine book, and a reader will not lightly dismiss it from his memory.

The Killing Season. By John Redgate. Jonathan Cape. 223 pp.

In the world at international espionage, the killing

season never ends. In Berlin, Jim Gallagher, Brian Ramsey and Burt Wager, old friend* of the Korean

War and excellently suited to be “three musketeers” in Washington’s secret service, seem to be working in friendly and streamlined fashion a* have so many ether “buddies” in other spy stories. A ferocious kick in the fare, however, await* the reader who wishes to ride comfortably along with these men as they nonchalantly face danger* and confound

the less efficient minions of the enemy. Ramsey ha* defected and, before the day is don*, has lined up Wager for slaying and kill* him. He ha* prepared the same treatment for Gallagher but only wounds him; and Gallagher, his Japanese wife, and his two small children, are Immediately flown back to Washington for safety. Gallagher cannot believe that his old friend is a traitor, and for this unbelief he pay* a horrible price. His superior officers in the spying business wish to use Ramsey as a double agent, but Gallagher is hell-bent on private vengence; and their ways divide, only to converge again in England, where a shattering climax is reached. John Redgate is a pseudonym for a well-known writer. It is not easy to guess who this may be, for nobody in one’s recent experience has written this type of book to welL The book has balance, streamlined movement, character* well-drawn, so that the reader can be joined to them in their feelings and adventures, and there is an exhilarating ride in the chase which is several times unexpectedly interrupted with a surprising head-on collision with a stone wall. This is indeed a book that you de not lightly put down.