LATEST NOVELS

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 39, 15 February 1930, Page 21

LATEST NOVELS

"BEFORE SUNSET."

Only a real lover of ancient Russia could have produced such a book a-s "Before Sunset" (London: Herbert Jenkins, Ltd.), for it covers a vast canvas, and the story of long years of war, oppression, conquest, and reconquest, suffering, and courage is well told. Historically, it is full of interest, and a vivid picture is given, by the authoress (Mrs. Alfred Wingate) of the great Mongol invasion with its cruelty and horror, its cunning and insincerity. The great interest of the book, however, is centred in the life of Alexander Novski, Prince of Novgorod, born in 1219, a hero and a saint, whose character is drawn with a loving ad-1 miration for a very line and beautiful personality. A strange one, indeed, in such times, bringing the thought that if such a one could arise again within that most distressful country, that perhaps she! would rise from the ashes of misery and degradation, and tako her rightful place in the kingdoms of the world. The story- of tho love of Nevski for Vasillissa. is tenderly told, and lib last wonderful sacrifice is a dramatic conclusion to a fine book. THE RELUCTANT MADONNA. Some strange situations are developed in this story by Marguerite Steen (London: Cassell and Co., Ltd.). Account is given of tho heredity of Lord Boauminster,' a leading character, who is shown to have a peculiar mingling of saints and' sinners in his forbears, the characteristics being extremely strong and unrelieved in each case. Therefore Beauminster is shown to b© an ascetic, with the capacity of being a considerable sinner as well. When he came into his inheritance he spent some years in a saving administration, and when he had pulled the estates out of the mire of debt and muddle, he goes abroad and falls in love. He marries a most charming girl; but apparently they had anticipated the ceremony, and, although there is no suspicion of this on the part of other people, Beauminster separates himself from his wife as a penance, and keeps to his vow always, without considering that she might have the natural feeling of a young woman, and desire something more than the name of wife, and her one son. The story is analytical of such a situation, and the character of the son of this strange pair is a good study. Miranda Beauminster is a very delightful woman, a splendid mother, and full of charm. But in time she finds the character of "Madonna" which her husband has thrust upon her, without any discussion or consultation, a very trying one. And then,, another lover comes to her, and the story develops in tragic manner, and every reader must needs feel a keen interest in tho struggle which takes place in the mind and soul of a reasonable, well-developed woman who is placed in a horribly false position. While the book is all on one rather unpleasant subject, it is certainly interesting. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. "Portrait of a Rebel," by Netta Gyvett (London: Geoffrey Bles), is the biography 'of a lady of the Victorian era, "the beautiful Miss Thistlewaite, of Hampstead," as no doubt she would have been called in her youth—and with good reason. But the reader has to begin his life story of the lady backwards, so to say, for it 'opens with the death at the ripe age of 86. Miss ThistleVraite was certainly a young lady of the 'sixties, but in her advanced views she was anything but Victorian as the term is often understood. She early became a mother of a child she could not own; she might have a man who seemed all that was desirable as a husband, but she did not; a second time she was near to marriage, but her prospective husband died. But Miss Thistlew-aite, even if she was "a handful" for all about her when she was a girl, rose buoyantly above her trials and lived not unhappily to- a great age, a rebel to the last. Miss Gyrett makes clever use of her materials, and her character delineation is excellent. "The Rebel?' is a sound piece of liter-1 ary workmanship. : A MID-VICTORIAN BEAUTY. The "Daily Mail Year Book" for 1930, a copy of which has just come to hand, is a valuable record of the past year's happenings, as well as of current affairs. It includes within its covers articles by leading writers on politics, diplomacy, business, and the many happenings which go to make up the world's life. It contains a "Who's Who," a list of members of the House of Commons, and a chronicle of many happenings. It is a valuable little book for use in the office or the home.

"Robert Louis Stevenson" is the title of G. K. Chesterton's masterly study of the character and literary -work of E.L.S. It is ' now published in the "People's Library" of , Hodder and Stoughton, and is in bold, largo print, on good paper, and is well bound.

"Those Teeth of Yours," by J. Menzics Campbell, L.D.S., D.D.S., F.R.S.E. (London: William Heinemann, Medical Books), is addressed to the lay and medical reader, but especially to the former, and incidentally to parents and heads of institutions having charge' of children. The book is a guide to all in doubt as to whether they should or should not make more frequent visits to their dentists, for inspection, quite as much as from operative attention. Tho work is well illustrated. .

Cleveland (U.S.A.) has made golf a night sport. There is an electrically lighted golf course in operation; a practice course laid out for shots of different distances from 50 to 275 yards. There are two 18-hole putting greens, and a miniature nine-hole course complete, on which the longest drive is 60 yards. Incandescent lamps of 1000 watts illuminate the fields.

A new ruse to prevent his car from being stolen when left in the street has been discovered by a Reading (England) motorist. He takes away the steering wheel. He recently left the car unattended —with perfect safety—for so long that he a summons.

The old parish church of Fenwick, near Kilmarnock, has been destroyed by fire. The church was one of the most historic and picturesque in the west of Scotland. It dated from 1643, and its first minister was Dr. William Guthrie, one of the great figures of Covenanting times. The oak pulpit from which Dr. Guthrie preached was destroyed. So was the seventeenth century hour-glass, which was turned over when the minister began his sermon, the length of which was measured by the falling aand. This glass was believed to be the only one of its kind in existence.

If you direct a letter now to Constantinople the Turkish Post Office may return it to you, with Turkish signs stamped on it to say "there ain't no sich place," in Mrs. Gamp's language. For what we have known all our lives as Constantinople (the city of Constantino tho Great) is now Stamboul, which just means "the city." This is the third famous city to have its name altered since tho war. Petrograd became Leningrad aud Christiania Oslo.

The four children of Mr. F. L. Adrian, of Pleaeantville, a suburb of New York, will receive £20 for their interest in a strip of land, half an inch wide and 102 feet long, lying between two valuable properties in New York City. An ancestor made an error of that amount in transferring a piece of one of the properties. This error the Court recently adjusted.

Dr. J. R. Ashworth, a member of the Royal Meteorological Society, explains why Sunday is the driest day of the week in British industrial areas. The lesser rainfall r' Sunday may reasonably be attributed to the lesser emission on that day of smoke and hot gases from factory chimneys. Mondays have the highest rainfall, and on these mornings there is, especially in winter, a vigorous outpouring of dense smoke from factory chimneys due to the restarting of *v- f""ia,ces after the Sunday rebt.