ROMANCE AND THRILLS

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 32, 9 February 1929, Page 21

ROMANCE AND THRILLS

SOME HOLIDAY FICTION

"Wild Paradise," by Kenneth Perkins (London: Hodder and Stougliton), is a tale of the American AVosfc, with all the thrill of adventures in tlio desert. Tough, liard-riding cattlc-'uicn, prosecutors, rustlers, outlaws; some evil and sinister, some heroic, somo quaint, all original. It is unusual, too, in that one of the "heroes" is a horse, the beautiful AH Baba, erstwhile king of the Arabian desert, forced into the ignominious life of a trick horse in Vasto's Circus. The battles, suffer; ings, rejoicings, loves and hates of Ali Buba make sometimes amusing, sometimes stirring, always entertaining reading. The other hero is Dave Hubbort, a prospector who, to free Ali Baba from the circus life, steals him and takes him into the desert at the instigation of Posy Nuggins, a circus girl, whose heart aches because of tho indignities heaped upon the once-proud Arabian steed. Dave Hubbert's ill-ad-vised but well-meant act places his life in jeopardy, and his peril is increased by the fact that his equine charge attracts all the mares in the vicinity, and soon Dave has the appearance of being » rustler on a grand scale. With great difficulty he eludes the sheriff and his posse, but comes in contact with some very queer characters. Meanwhile Posy, in, an effort to savo Dave from a "tight-rope party," follows the sheriff into the desert, but is led into the strong hold of the "Trade-Rat," an unprepossessing denizen of crookdom. In the nick of time the courageous girl is rescued by Dave, who escapes with her only to be caught by the vengeful sheriff "and handed over to Vasto,. the owner of Ali Baba. The horse now acts the part of rescuer, and pays off all old scores before he shakes off forever the shackles of civilisation and returns to his "wild paradise." The book is humorous and original throughout, and the characters are living and colourful. ,

Gripipng Stories.

"The Ship in the Swamp," by W. Townend (London: Herbert Jenkins) is the title story but not the best of a collection by a: writer who:'knows the values of pathos and humour. These short stories are nearly all purposeful, showing that it is not the sole object of the writer to furnish marketable fiction for reading in railway trains. "Overseas for Flanders," for instance, deals not only with bitter war experiences graphically related, but with the obnoxious traffic in British horseflesh for human consumption in Belgium. "Bolshevik," again, is a powerful story reflecting the bitterness of heart of returned soldiers who, having done all they could or were expected to do in the war, find themselves workless and hungry and ready fuel for Bolshevik kindling. In this case a Highlander "down and out" in England meets a rich German who was once his prisoner in France. The German, not ungrateful of some consideration shown by his captor, offers him money, but the Highlander, although starving, refuses it with scorn. The German, however, does in the end assist him surreptitiously, but not before remarking that the Scot is "der most soundest man in dor whole vorldt." The writer will appeal more perhaps to men readers, for he himself has experienced what being "up against it" means.

Father and Daughter.

Threo generations play their-part .in "Frankincense," a fine novel, by Guy Fletcher (London: Oassells. Through Whitcombo and Tombs). Hero ,is a story of human' joy and suffering, baseness and heroism. George Evans-Win-sloe, spendthrift and roue, marries an unsophisticated young girl, quickly tires of her, and abandons her to an almost solitary existence in Wales. Her sorrow is softened by tho expectation of a child —a son, she hopes. In her loneliness the expectant mother writes little' letters to her son, telling him of hoihopes. Pathetically her plaus como to naught, for sho dies in childbirth and a daughter is born and brought up by her aunt. Her name is Fanny, and sho inherits the gentleness and sweetness of her. mother, and tho spirit and force of her father, making her a fine and lovcablo character. After years of indifference her father is attracted to her, and taken her on a hunting expedition'to Africa.: It-is on this trip that Fanny meeta Jimmy Dreen, an honest, brave, arid chivalrous Guardsman, who becomes' her husband and the father of her son Geoffrey. Their happy lifo is broken- by the war. For two years Jimmy fights aiid Fanny suffors, wondering at-the meaning of war and unable to understand the quality- in her husband that makes: him leave all ho loves and endure unspeakable hardships for an ideal. When ho returns blinded she becomes his helpmeet and boon companion. It is in the child Geotfry that are realised all tho hopes his grandmother had for her child, and it is ho who on a visit to Wales nnds and reads the little letters. This.w a well-built novel.

London the Miraculous,

"Tho Silver Greyhound," by J. M. Walsh (London: John Hamilton, Ltd.) is as will doubtless occur to. the reader of the title, a tale of a King's Messenger. But surely there never was another like him. Arthur Clavering, a young rubber planter of good family down on his luck in Burma, is given a mysterious trust by a dynamic individual who baffles,' intrigues, and yet fascinates him. It is to deliver a package 'to an address in London, but he loses, the address, and his mission is curiously accomplished by chance, while he is hiding his identity in London, too proud to call cm his wealthy relatives. There is a stirring call to the comradeship of vagabondage in the- tale, yet tho characters are all in their way big men. One is a secret agent unravelling a plot to secure control of the East, hatched in Tibet, a dare-devil, poly-lingocd fatalist, with old England's welfare as his chief religion; another is a baronet in a highly confidential position at the Foreign Office, and yet; another is a rusty looking, benevolent old scampwho turns out to be a private inquiry agent without nerves and an uncanny flair for deeply buried truths. Clavering starts tho frustration of the Eastern plot when he stumbles against a lovely girl laden with parcels, but the loyo interest is treated in a deliciously matter of fact way by the author, and fresh hourly clues and sensations jostle it into the background. Covering's life is attempted several times to secure the package, but it is only after the mysterious man from Burma appears in London that the baronet is proved to be a'consummate actor, and a man of parts. Never has the fact that London holds more romance and cx6itement than the furthest ends of tho earth been better set forth in the guise of an absorbing story.

.Prom Messrs. Gordon and Gotch arc received copies of tho new literary weekly magazine "Outline" and of tho modernised "Sunday at Home." The former is a well writton and fully illustrated journal dovotcd to books, scienco and art; and the latter will hardly be recognised by tho middle-aged as the magazine given to them in their youth to occupy thoir minds on Sundays and other-days. "Mrs. Bunynn," tho hrst wife of tho author of "The Pilg"111 s Progress," and Elizabeth, her successor, who fought, so valiantly in defence oilier husband when ho was- imprisoned for preaching. A dramatic story is made by Mario Macmillan of Esther and Ahasuerus and tho fate of tho antiSemito Hainan.