SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2752, 22 April 1916, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION

Looking for Grace,

Some capital comedy , is to he found in Mrs. Horace Tremlett's. novel, "Looking for Grace" (John Lane). Colonel Massingham, a Territorial'officer who goes, to the front, is fatally wounded, - his last words, spoken to an officer comrade, being a message for a lady who is briefly named Grace. The widow, who is a fussy strong-minded, and rather truculent person, is terribly upset'by lier husband's message; and sets out to try and discover the identity of the mysterious Graoe, being further excited pver the fact that the dead man's lawyer discloses the fact that before leaving for the front the colonel had cashed a cheque for £5000. As the Masssnghams nave no relation of the name of Grace, the widow suspects some sorious and hidden indiscretion in her late husband's private life. Her scarch. for the missing Grace—and the -d'xact destination'of .the £5000—beoomes the central motif of an ingeniously contrived comedy, in which a flirtatious and financially embarrassed young widow, a faithful old family servant, an amorous /•young Belgian officer, ail eccentric South African financier; and a host of other lively and interesting figures take part., The explanation of the mysterious message is cleverly concealed until the very last pages of an exceptionally well written' an'd mosj; amusing story, essentially one of the present day. By all means do not neglect reading "Looking for Grace." Straws Upon the Water. v -The' author of that admirable story, "Fate, the Marplot," Mr. ThickuesseWoodiii'gton, now gives us in "Stiraws lupon'the Water'.' (George Allen and Unwin', Ltd.), another excellent novel, a special feature of which is its. wealth of clever characterisation. The plot turns upon the moral regeneration and repentance of a rich, self-indulgent young man who behaves very badly to a very charming, but impetuous, and, iir worldly matters,, very foolish • young lady. Under promise of, marriage he induces the young lady to accompany him to France, but, alas, the marriage does not take place. Tire girl, cruelly deceived and deserted, disappears for some years, ashamed to rejoin- her relatives, and -has a hard straggle as a worker in very humble capacities. Hor seducer, by this time intensely remorseful, vainly endeavours to discover hor whereabouts. When at last he does succeed in finding her, she contemptuously refuses his offer to repair the wrong, he had done her. He himself then devotes himself to whjrt he considers a. practical purgation, quitting his luxurious home and voluntarily working as a' dock labourer. Eventually he is forgiven, the long-separated pair marry, and the story' closes with good promise of happiness-for both. In less skilful hands the somewhat stagey plot might have degenerated into mere melodrama, but the story is so well told .that the apparent theatricality of its leading incidents may be overlooked: For one character alone, an old spinster lady, who suddenly conies into a fortune, and is, throughout, the good "genius of the sadly offending Dick, the story is well worth reading. An Early Victorian Story. '.'When Pan Pipes," a fantastic romance of Hie thirties, by Mary Thornton (Sampson, Low and Co.), is a long and very unevenly-written story, in which some very venerable cliches of Victorian fiction reappear. There is a lost heir, a sculptor's soil, who is brought up as a farm boy, and a peer's beautiful daughter, who is coldly, treated by her 'father, and who is in love with the well-born young swineherd, vlio, by the way, has a childhood's friend, who plays the part of the goose girl, emerging later on in the character' of a maiden of high degree. Also, lliere are some wild roystcring, dueling, young noblemen, a wickcd old hypocrite of a "Method, y" ministor, and a couple of queer-manaered but kindlyhearted old spinsters, each of whom, with a second series of characters, in London town, plays- a' part in the romantic story of Jeremy and Lady Mary. The author has, if anything, been too generous. in tho peopling of her stage, and tho introduction of the fairy element, including tho much overworked Pan, and a talking "Moon" dolavs, at times, the action of tho story proper. Nevertheless, "When Pan Pipes" is an interesting and, iu placca, quite exciting story. The Kaleidoscope. "The by the Hon. Mrs. Dowdall (Duckworth and Co., per -Whitcombe and Tombs), in in many ways <tu interesting and entertaining novel. Its best feature is its clevor charaetorlsatiol: and its flashes of that pleasantly satirical humour which was .so prominent in the author's earlier bonki, "The Book of Martha" , arid "Joking Apart." Whoro Mrs. Dowdall , is less successful is in the' constructiqn a of her story., .which,. as a narrative.

wobbles about so much as to prevent, | that continuity of interest which is so omiuontly desirablo in u novel. In its dianidter sketches, notably those of a plumber who iuhorits a, baronetcy, hih silly nnd vulgar middlo-class wile, ah outspoken ana very scnsiblo duchess, and a singularly "cattish," young lad.v, whoso cniol sonndal-inongonng bringh, • Sot a timo, sad troll bio to somo pleasant young people, the author display* her satirical powers to great advantage. Hut tho story, as a story, hangs iiro too much to bo entirely successful. The B.S. Clory. Mr. Frederick Niven, _ wlioso excellent novels, "Ellon Adair" and "Tho Justice of tho Peace," may bo reilioniberod by some of my readers, givos us, in his latest book, "Tlie S.S. Glory" (Wm. Heinemann; por George Robertson and Co.), a series of strikingly realistic pictures of life on board a Canadian cattlo steamer, on 'a voyago from Montreal to Liverpool. Those who rojoice in tho ohronicles of amatonr pugilism may find Mr. Nivon's descriptions of ''The Cattle Push" . and its ways very entertaining.' But his record of fighting, foul language, and brutality generally, punctuated, though it be, by some clever character sketches of a ship's company, is, as a whole, somewhat disappointing work from a writer who has, in his previous book 6, dealt with so ;inuch more interesting'' pcoplo. Tho .'book contains some well-drawn pictures, !in colour, by Fred. Holmos. Dave's Sweetheart, A cheaper edition (Is. 6d.) of Mary Gaunt's excellent story of .Australian up-country life, "Dave's Sweetheart," has been published by T. Werner Laurie, Ltd. In its new form Miss Gaunt's story, reviewed at length in those columns upon its first appearance, at three and sixpence, should gain many now admirers. It is, of course,, ultra sensational, but in its literary merit is far above the ordinary class of such fiction. "The Romancb of a Red Cross Hospital." A woll practised writer of fiction, Mr. F. Frankfort Moore, in his "Romanes of a Red Cross Hospital" '(Hutchinson and Co.,_ per Whitcombe and Tombs), again gives his admirers a pleasantly-written well-told story, a special feature being the description of the splendid service now being rendered by professional and amateur nurses and helpers at one of the many Red Cross hospitals established in the Old Country. The scene is laid in the heart of a typical English county, and there is a pleasantly romantic intqyest involved in the loss and finding of a husband, which forms part of the plot.