SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 8, 4 October 1919, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Tito Secret Battle," As a study in war psychology, ami more particularly ns a penetrating and convincing analysis of fear and its gradual development in the mind of a naturally courageous man, Sir. A. P. Herbert's story, "The Secret Buttle" (Methnen and Co.) is worthy of unstinted praise. The author, the well-known "A .P.M." of "Punch," describes a long sequence of events which lead up to the tragic finale of poor Harry Penrose's career, a court-martial, a sentence of death for "cowardice" in face of Iho enemy and the execution of a young officer justly beloved by bis men and never previously oven suspected of allowing personal fear to undermine his sense of duty. Harry Penrose is only a youngster when ho goes to Gallipoli, "a shy, intelligent-'! looking person, with smooth, freckled skin and quick, nervous movements," with "a greed for experience and the savour of adventure." He has always, as a youth, mistrusted his own abilities and capacities—never his courage; and it is quite early in the story easy see that, he worries over his responsibilities. By the end of his experiences at the Dardanelles he seems to have overcome that self-ques-tioning spirit of self-distrust which at first made him so anxious. On the .Western front, however,' he meets with some bad luck, and imagines lie has incurred blame Sdlf-dislrust causes him to acquit himself less'successfully than,'so he thinks—and so his colonel evidently thinks—he might have done. Then he is wounded,, goes home for a spell, and finally returns to the front to meet a terrible doom. On his very first night of duty his men break away at a critical moment, he loses his head, and not only fails to rally them, but. gives ■way before his .old enemy, self-mistrust —and "runs"! Result, a court-martial and "the thing was done seven mornings later in a little orchard behind tho Cnsquettes rami." As a civilian. I am not prepared to tnke exception to the woy the court-martial is conducted, but it. is snfe to say that most of those who read this pathetic story will think that uoor Harry Penrose might well have been treated more mercifully. The author, himself a soldier, who saw active service in the fighting jine, says of his book: "It is not !i" attack o" any o' ■*■" 'i. oc '>:■> death penalty; or an anything fl'.so, though if it makes peonle think about these things, so much the better." He adds: "I think I believe in the death penalty—l don't know. But I did not believe in Harry being shot." It is a painful story to read, "The Secret Battle." but it has a special appeal for New /.calenders in its strikingly vivid description of certain scenes and incidents of the Gallipoli campaign. Harry Penrose is the leading, M not -.in\i'-'-ant character. Some of his fellow officers are drawn with- a pen IV vivid effectivenes-s of who=e .etrokei is that of n dry-point etching. The sheer n\is?ry of trench life, the grimy ond ec.i'lui s ; f'». o f wa". hav" never b°en more realistically described than in this power.-fully-written story. "Snake Bite." A new book from Mr. Eobert Hichens ! is always welcome, but has uot been forth., coming during the war period. Now, however, Mr. Hichens is again to tho front, this time with a collection of sixstories, lroni the iirat ui wu.c ■ inc im , "Snake Bite" (Casseili and Co., per S. and W. Mackay), derives its title. Mr. Hichens is always at his best when his 'background is Africa, and in the title story of the present collection gives ns a poignant little tragedy in which a young. English doctor, his wife, and a wealthy and masterful American traveller are the chief actors. The dramatic note in this story rings true, and Is free from all theatricality. As for tlie "colour" of tho storv, those-who remember "The Garden of AG'lah" can testify to t'lio ability with winch this novelist can reproduce the fascinating, mystery-laden atmosphere of tho Algerian desert. In "Snake Bite this is again very effectively suggested. The other five stories in the. collection I deal chiefly with tho occult, ' but i in' "The Lost Faith" Mr. Hichens is peculiarly successful in depicting the soul struggles of a young American lady I who for somo time deludes herselt that she is a "faith healer." She loses faith in herself, but wins the heart of a very fine man. Tlie story might well have been expanded into a full length novel, and the author is to lie • con"l'atulated upon having resisted tlie temptation. As it stands it is ono of tho most compact, best-handled and effective short stories I have read this many a long day. As a study m the uncanny, "The Lighted Candles,' the | story of a haunted house in Home, is also

to bo highly commended. but, indeed, all I six stories are most readable. \ "Handley's Comer." "Hnndlev's Corner," by Kate Horn ' (Slimlcy' Van] and Co.) is a pleasantly writU-ii.slorv, mainly descriptive of rural lifo but witli some of its'scenes laid in a fashionable seaside resort. Molly Bn.rrley. the heroine, is n very charming girl, whose mother is desperately anxious that her daughter shallmake n "good match from ii worldly point of view. Holly mis a faithful admirer in Jem Grandison, honourably "out of the war" with his brevet captaincy and the Military Gross, but the voimg lady fails at. first to appreciate his excellent qualities.and carries on a mild flirtation with a jolly, young -Irishman. The latter, an othccT 'in the Hoyal Flying Corps.. ,qu:te innocently compromises the girl's lair name and insists upon marrying her, although . bv this time both he and Molly, recog- : n'ise they have no real love for each I other. The young husband is killed m i an accident before his wedding day is out ! anil the story .closes with a strong proj> ; ability of Molly making happy hie..faithful Captain Grandison. Mrs. Horn hits off very satirically the jealousies and , petty meannesses of some of the heroines , feminine relations, and the dialogue generally is bright and spirited. "The' Hills of Desire." "The Hills of Desire," by Richard Aumerlo Maher (Macmillan and Co., New York and Melbourne), is an American story, the principal figures being a young New York journalist, who marries, out of pity more than affection, n very- lovable girl, whose mother, .with,., whim the young man has boarded,.sud- J denly becomes insane. Soon after the marriage tho husband is. attacked with neurasthenia, the result of over-strenu-ous work in Newspaper Row, and .the young couple betake themselves to the hills on a caravanning tour. They settle down on' the whores of n pic-turesquely-situated mountain lake, where the voting journalist recovers his health and'does some fine original work as a novelist. A letter to the husband from an old lady friend is found and its meaning sadly misinterpreted by the wife, who suddenly leaves her husband, by this time passionately in love with her. Then conies the war, and poor Jimmy, despairing of tracing his wife, goes into camp, and later on fights and is severely wounded in France. Meanwhile the .wife has joined, a nursing corps, ami—well, the rest 'in the shape of reunion, removal of all misunderstandings, mid the commencement of n new err. of ( happiness) can easily be guessed by an experienced novel reader. A Romance of Tasmania, ; Mr. William Hay, the author of "The Escape of the Notorious Sir William Means (and the Mystery of Sir. Daunt)-. A Komance of Tasmania" (George 1 Alleii and Unwin), had already tv« well-wrVc-tcn novels of Australian lif-t to his credit.' In his new story, however, he has produced a novel far superior to its' predecessors, and deserving 'of/, a foremost 1 place in latter-day fiction. It is a story of the. bad old. days in Tasmania, the days of the Victorian 'forties, whilst as yet. the convict tvystem was in full swing, and when Sir John Franklin.was Governor. Mr. Hay's hero, Sir. William Menus, is a member of ah old Irish family, sent out as a convict for an offence to which space limits forbid detailed reference. He is what his fellow convicts would describe ns a "rare plucked 'un," for he displays an undaunted courage in face of horrible injustice, and cruel illtreatment, and gives frequent proof, of tho fast that he is a gentleman born anil bred, although, alns.i fated to wear the Jhatcl'ul garb of a convict. Ho never loses heart, albeit the petty—and at times almost demoniacal—tyranny of which he is a victim, and of which Daunt, the chief of the police staff at the convict settlement, is the leading instigator and exponent, is enough to drive any less stromr-minded mm into sWt and insanity. In the end, befriended bv more than one kindly good-hearted nerson, inclilding a native black woman, ho wins through, and succeeds in the second of his two sensational attempts at escape. The author crowds his canvas almost too liberally, the story being rich in dramatic incidents, often of a quite tlirillimr character. In a way it is reru-iiiisr-nt of 'Marcus.Clarke's, powerful; novel "For the Term of : His."', Natural Life." hut it is less persistently' gloomy,, although quite, an powerfully written and convincing a romance. There is much stroll:.' characterisation in ' the ' slorv, which, although nf considerable length, will ho read from first to last' of its chanters willi unfailing interest. As n nicturo" of' Tasinauian life in the days when convicts were leased out to the settlers as' "assigned" servants, the'story is possessed "f no Binull historical ■importance and value.