LIFE IN RHODESIA

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 47, 23 August 1930, Page 21

LIFE IN RHODESIA

Very few people have the gift of description in. the same wonderful degree as has Sheila Macdonald. "Susan Outside" (London: Cassells) is largely descriptive, and the reader at the end of the book has a real grasp of the scenery of Rhodesia, of the natives and their virtues and vieee, the homes, good, bad, and indifferent, the difficulties of the life, the joys, the nice and nasty people, and the life of a mining camp. AH-well described, joined with a golden thread of story, and humorous sidelights on the society and conditions of life' that are full of joyous interest, for Susan, in her most depressed moments, never lets go of her conviction that she would rather put up with the wild and insect life, the food difficulties, the heat; and the lack of decent roading, than return to sophisticated full-of-coinfort London. Susan goes out to stay with a brother, to whom, in the beginning, she is distinctly unwelcome, as he cannot imagine her making any sort of a lifo in a mining camp. However, she soon wins her way, and Bob* and his friends appreciate her bright presence, and determined efforts for more comfort and cleanliness in the housekeeping, and romance comes to add to her joy in the great and wonderful country of South Africa. A book to enjoy, and to keep for sunless or depressing days, when its optimism anil sunshine will bring a new atmosphere. M.H.C.