SOME RECENT. FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3167, 18 August 1917, Page 11

SOME RECENT. FICTION

Temple Thurston's Latest. In his latest novel, ■'Enchantment" (T. Fisher Unwin), Mr. Temple Thurston, author of those popular stories, "The. City of Beautiful Nonsense," "Sally Bishop," and tho trilogy of which RichaTd Furlons was the hero, gives his admirers a highly romantic .study of Irish life. The heroine is the daughter of a decayed Irish gentleman who has become a professional horse .denier: Patricia is a bright, high-spirited girl, whose mother's lift! puor Desmond had endeavoured tosuve by vowing Hie newly-born child In a nun's vocation should his wife be spared him. The mother, however, dins, .and Di'-mond gradually gives way to drink, until, when thn girl is seven or oight years did. he .:iHfiiu>ls_ ; a.. new. .bargain, as it were, between his weak se-lf and his God. The parish priest agrees Mint it

is only fair that the debt to the convent shall bo cancelled if Desmond will reuouueo tho unholy delights of whisky. Ho becomes a teetotaller, but in an unlucky moment, being elated, over a fine bit of sharp practice in horse-dealing, lie succumbs to tho old temptation. How this brings about remorse, and seals the fato of Patricia, who is dispatched to a convent, it is unnecessary to relate in detail. But now wo reach the stage of romantic adventure, for a Prince Charming crops up in the person of u handsome young fellow, who lias been a bjt of a wastrel, but who now acts the part of the Romantic Rescuer, a gentleman highwayman, and carries off the convent-bound lady. How the romance ends I may not disclose, but my readers can take my word for it that they will find Mr. Thurston's story vastly entertaining. The book contains many clever character-sketches, and is permeated by a buoyant humour which is most fascinating.

The Perilous Crossways. Lovers of the ultra-sensational will find in Txr. J. 1. Fletcher's latest novel, "The Perilous Crqssivaye" (Ward, Lock and Co., per Whitconibe and Tombs), a rich feast pi' melodrama. The villaiu-in-chief is a country doctor, who murders his uucl«, steals a gigantic and fabulously vahiablo ruby, attempts to blackmail an estimable young lady into marrying him, poisons his housemaid, "removes" two Hindoos who arc tracking him down, ami is finally disposed of by a snakebite. lam not quito sure whether I Jinvo even now fiflly detailed the orgie of crime in which Dr. Maury indulges, Out tho above littlp record will siiflice to show that Mr. Fletcher has in him the making of a first-class writer of cinema drama. Apart from its over-generous supply of sensation, tho story is not illwritten. His Mexican Wife. It must be oitremely embarrassing for a highly-respectable baronet, after a. quarter of a century of quiet married life in a strictly conventional community, to find himself suddenly claimed as ii father by n beautous young Mexican, whoso mother the baronet had married in his mid young days iu far-away Mexico. Such, however, is -the experiDnci.; of Sir John Boddington, whose acquai.ntanco we niako.-in Mr. Arthur Applies novel, "His Mexican AVife" (Ward, Locke' and Co; per Whitcombo ami Toihlb). To complicate matters, tho. Boddington jewels are stolen, and the baronet, moro than suspects his own son of being the thief. With such a start off,-Mr. Aplin gives us a ■highly-sensa-tional but really wcll-tolcl story, which, nowever improbable may be certain of its incidents, is certainly v.cry readable