LATEST NOVELS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 92, 15 October 1927, Page 21

LATEST NOVELS

A VARIED ASSORTMENT

Described on the paper "jacket" as "a great love romance," "Fires of Isis," by Alexander de Comeau (London: A. H. Stockwell, Ltd.), seems hardly to merit the adjective *' great.'' It follows the usual lines of such romances with numerous intrigues, until on the last page "he uttered a sound like a sob and clasped her in his arms . . . raising her face, she offered him her lips. Then . -. . "; but it is better to leave the rest .to the imagination.

"Revelry," by Samuel Hopkins Adams (London: Brentanos) probably has more appeal to American. readers than 'it has to New Zealanders. It deals with the political life of the States, introducing a. President and his grafting friends. The book is described, as "a novel of the time just beyond our own day," but it is somewhat easy to place the leading characters and many of the incidents can be identified with recent administrations. However, the story is a good one, but a dictionary is sometimes needed in order to understand fully the American language in which the book is written.

"The Gift in the Gauntlet" is byMrs. Baillie Eeyuolds (London: Hodder and Stoughton),"*and the story circles round- Horinia, Lady Courland, daughter of the only son of Lord Courland, who married the sister of Joe Pippin, a small hotellceeper. Old Lord Courland would never forgive this marriage. On his death he left all the money at his disposal to other people, and Hermia inherited barren entailed estates. She .is driven to do strange things for money. Then she falls in love with Guy Dinsmore, a distant cousjn, a particularly worthless man, and so brings great trouble. into ; her life. Hermia then induces. TJricle' Joe to go to Monte Carlo with her,.hoping to gain money at the gaming tables, but Joe dies suddenly there, and Hermia is rescued from a difficult situation by Ethan Storm, a man who had fallen in love with her at sight. She marries Slorm rather hastily, partly out of gratitude, and partly because she thinks sho has been deserted by Dinsmore. Both go to live at Courland Meynell. The place is beautifully restored by Ethan, who has been left a fortune by Colonel Erice, with-his property, "Eonaldscar." But this has a curious condition attached to it; forming a mystery in the life of Storm, who must live at "Eonaldscar" for part of each year. He tries to persuade Hermia to stay at Courland Meynell while he is there, but this arouses suspicion in her mind, and it is the beginning first of jealousy, and then of Jove for her husband.. A number of other characters are introduced, each and all being interesting, and a particularly intriguing story is the result. Humanity, love, and passion all come into the story, and it is worked out in a masterly manner.