CURRENT FICTION

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 48, 26 February 1927, Page 21

CURRENT FICTION

WHAT PEOPLE READ

NOVELS OF VARIED MERIT

"Days of Disillusion," by Chester Francis Cobb (London, George Allen and Unwiu, Ltd.), is a novel with Sydney us its setting. Robert Watson is the chief personage in this remarkable novel. As his name is ordinary, so is he —just one of the thousands who, ovor'y night but Saturdays and Sundays, rush in their thousands for the Circular Quay Ferry and the new electric tube stations, who crowd trains and buses, or step lightly, into their own cars, all niaking their swift daily flight from tho city. But, like any other of those men, Robert Watson in the novel, has a soul,; a something that is not worn on • the sleeve. It is this something that Mr. Chester Cobb displays before his readers, and that with unusual skill and very great charity. Readers looking, for thrills, for romance, dramatic force, passionate outbursts, will not find very much to satisfy them in "Days of Disillusion." What they will find is the life story of an ordinary Sydney/business man, no hero, no rogue, no saint— just plain, ordinary man. And yet there is a true hero wrapped up in the hitman string and brown paper parcel that passes among men and women, as "Robert Watson" possibly "Bob Watson" to his friends. One feels that he is no figment of the writer's imagination, no cut-to-chart character, but a real, sentient man of flesh and blood, of like passions with his fellow men. The novel does not end with his marrying and living happy ever afterwards, it does not end with his death—as a matter of fact, his marriage occurs a little past the middle of the books. It ends with a great discovery that Robert .Watson made, one that-evidently the writer has made for himself, arid it is contained in the following paragraph: "Do we al] fail to make the world a more beautiful place, because we're looking to somebody else to-be perfect? And yet how can the world be perfect if each one of us is not perfect? And if we want the world to be perfect, shouldn't webegin with ourselves? How can the world begin to be different if I don't begin? I'm part of the'world, and if >I change, the whqje. world is that much changed. .."

Realising the force of that idea Robert Watson leaves his readers, who will naturally want to kuow> in the futro how he got on with it.

Mr. Chester Cobb has a tendency to try the patienceof his readers with his fondnoss for staccato writing and short chopped sentences; but his sincerity and the grip he holds on the interests of his readers will atone for this or any graver little literary sins that he may commit.

"The Veil of Glamour," by Clivo Arden (London: Leonard Parsons; through Robertson and Mullens, Melbourne), recalls what has been said by cynical novelists, that no two persons wlyj have never partaken of breakfast together should marry. Which leads one to the belief that breakfast tete-a-tete, is a test. Perhaps, it is; but in Clive Arden's new novel the two people who breakfast together for a whole year : while -living in the same house, chaperoned by a worthy lady who is discretion }tself, find the first meal of the day something to look forward to. The complications of the day that follows are what perturb the two experimenters in' marriage. Meg Mellor and Prank Hendon are literary folk who think they love,'but who are not sure that marriage is for them. Hence the test of. living together for- twelve months".*' It turns out serenely in the end, . but there are heart-burnings on both side 3, for ••Frank is wooed 'under Megs-eyes by tho typical female whose innocent helplessness is a pose—and at the same time anathema to an energetic, intelligent girl like Meg. The story is fairly convincing, and quite wholesome in these enlightened days. It is intended to prove the old adage that /'trial marriages are the best safety matches." But even trial marriages must have their chaperon, and Bicky is a delightful woman. She firmly believes that all men would love their wives—if they .were not married to them. The previous books of Clive Arden were "Sinners in Heaven" (which has been filmed) and "Enticement."

"The Silence of the Hills," by Cecil Adair (London: Stanley Paul and Co., Ltd), is the sort of thrilling romance that girls revel in. It is about a pretty, unsophisticated .English girl named Lucia, who has been brought up -by her grandmere, Madame de Rieu, in the old country seat, "Tranquillite," ■in France. Here with Blaise, the boy from the "White. Castle" nearby, for a companion, she spends many happy years. She is then sent to a convent to finish her education, after which she lives with her aunt, Lady Archinard, in London, who is responsible for her social welfare. Here Lucia meets and loves Captain Claud Cunningham,. a middle-aged man whose early life has been darkened by an unhappy marriage. After the wedding; as they are signing the book, Claud's wife, who ho believed long dead, appears in the vestry. How Lucia leaves the man she loves and goes back homo to "Tranquillize" and "The Silence of the Hills, ' to keep forever faithful her marriage vows, and the meeting with Blaise, her girlhood's companion, makes delightful reading. "The Silence, of the Hills" is a clean, wholesome love story, one of the best of its kind.

'The Mystery of Mademoiselle," by William Lo Queux (London: Hodder 'and Stoughton, Ltd.), is deeply mysterious, and with two pairs of lovers, who are so attractive to Mr. Le Queux in his descriptive work, "The Mystery of Mademoiselle," may be described in picture language as "full of thrills " One pair of lovers, Joy Hutton and Denis Lsmore, open the story, and are eagerly anticipating the arrival of Gerald Hutton, Joy's brother, who is returning to England from abroad, having just received an important diplomatic appointment. He telegraphs from London that he has arrived, and they expect him to follow immediately to Gloucestershire, but that is the end of him. Ho seems for a while to have completely disappeared off tho face of the earth. Inquiries show that he was seen talking to. an attractive young lady in tho train, and then Mademoiselle enters the story. Thoro is great mystery,. considerable crimo exposed, and plots against a number of leading British authorities, specially in tlfe Diplomatic Service. The story unfolds attractively, the denouement is unexpected, and the readers can while away some very pleasant hours with the story of Mademoiselle and a number of interesting people.

"The Serpent-headed Stick," by Jo^hu Hawk (London: Hodder and Stoughton), is an absorbing romance. The death under mysterious circumstances of a young and beautiful actress, a professor of curious mental calibre, deadly and unknown poisons, a Chinese curio: mix these ingredients and several more together and one has the " Serpent-headed Stick." To all this add the brilliant detective, Mortimer Sark, the usual false trails and side tracks, the rescue of a damsel from premature death, and finally the triumph of true love and the vindication of all the characters except one, and you have a good thriller calculated to pass away very pleasantly a hot afternoon or a tedious railway journey.