A CASUAL HEROINE

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 69, 14 December 1935, Page 29

A CASUAL HEROINE

“Black Valleys.” by M. W. Peacock (Sydney: Angus and Robertson.)

Berta Ludlow, the Australian-born daughter of au English father and Bohemian mother, is the central figure lu this novel which covers the lives of three generations. In common with other characters iu the book, she conducts herself in a. manner difficult for the ordinary person to understand. Without, apparently, adequate reason or consideration, she marries her sister’s betrothed, and when circumstances alter, just as hurriedly secretly departs, taking with her tlie child, whose father’s right does not seem to trouble her. She goes to her mother’s people in Prague, and again “marries” a man who believes her to be a widow. The story passes through the war period and ends with the return of Berta’s sou to claim his Australian Inheritance.

The author’s evident familiarity with the city of Prague is one of the few bright spots in this story, which is characterised by an immaturity of outlook often resulting in unconscious humour. Berta experiences grief, change, shame, disappointment and the results of deceit in a casual manner; people die and pass out of the story when most convenient for them to do so, and certain aspects of the war are given with the effect of a badly-acted charade.