WORTH HEADING

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 137, 6 December 1930, Page 21

WORTH HEADING

SOME RECEXT NOVELS

• A vivid and arresting historical romance, "Oddsfish," by Monsignor R.. N. Benson, written from a strictly ].{omauist viewpoint, deals with the doings j ' and the adventurings of one Eoger Mal- , lock, a young Catholic English gentleman of property, brought up under j monastic tutelage in Italy and sent over to London, on. a secret commission by Pope Innocent tho Seventh to tho Court >of King Charles the Second. The various intricate plots, the ever-recurring game of "Diamon'd-eut-Paste," the restless political movements with their pendulum-swing, descriptions oi finesse out-liucssed and of cowardly or venal rogues bribed, rebribed and surbribed, or terrified into confession of their villainies, and, finally, the closing hours 1 of tho hectic and fitful life of King ' Charles the Second, are all described ' with great fidelity and with telling historic verisimilitude. I The inimitable G. K. Chesterton lias '. been happy iv his title, "The Four , Faultless Felons" (Cassell). The crimes ■ of the "four faultless felons" were I committed cheerfully in a spirit of pure s altruism. Thus, in "The Moderate ■ Murderer," the first of the four tales in L the book, a most eutertaining and original tutor shot a very pompous colonial Governor in the leg, partly to save him from a whole volley in a more vital spot, but ehieily in order that he might I have the leisure of convalescence to ' contemplate certain differences between ' himself and the Deity. "The Ecstatic ' Thief," of the second story, was a thief '—a real .Chestertonian paradox of a ; thief—who rescued his father an<L' his ' brothers from the- sin of a swollen self--1 righteousness. "Tho Loyal Traitor.*' of tho third story was a traitor because ' ,ho was first of all a patriot, and "The ; Honest Quack" may be allowed to quack for himself. I Well over 600 pages of a huudred- , per-cent. Arnold Bennett are between . the covers of "Imperial Palace" (Cas- , sell). It is all about a super-luxury | hotel, and it is as if Mr. Bennett really wanted to write a study of luxury hotel organisation iv all its branches, from. ! the ■ engine-room and audit-room in ! the basement to the staff arrangements '. on the topmost floor. This he has done with absolute competence, but, obvi- '. ously with his tongue in his cheek, lias . interwoven a plot, hinting at dramatic , developments which never eventuate. ' There are among the characters a king - of hotel directors, a financier, a detec--1 live, and exciting ladies. There are \ even bloodstains on a, lady's coatsleeve when she returns to the hotel 1 at 4 o'clock in the morning, and yet : nothing really exciting happens. Still, it is Arnold Bennett at his best, which means fun and plenty of it. : The Sanger family, that picturesque, unconventional and exceptionally en- • tertaining group which contributed so ' largely to the success of "The Con--1 stant Nymph," continues to play a part ■iv Margaret Kennedy's latest novel, , "The Fool of the Family." The dramatic lives.of two characters neglected lin the earlier volume—Caryl and Sebastian, sous of tho great Sanger —arc explored in the present tale. "The Fool of the Family" is entertaining reading, almost melodramatic in its ; surfeit of thrilling incident, but it is rather confused reading, owing to the existence of something akin to a double plot. The story will not.bear very close inspection with regard to consistency or probability, but it will rate high as entertainment. In "Men Are Human," Vauue Palmer, Australian author and. poet of de- ■ servedly wide repute, has written a : novel of real merit. Tho Australian atmosphere is right, its'people are thor- , oughly Australian, the workmanship is that of a craftsman, and Mr. Palmer i has sacrificed nothing to mere sentinientalism. The outstanding figures in this compact drama are M'Curdie, the bluff, aggressive station-owner, and : his son, Boyd, back from the war with ideas of his own. Tragedy trails the ; heels of them both. These men are human. As they are fashioned by heredity and experience, so they run, and i sombre shadows follow their going. Mr. ; Palmer excels in his portraiture—his characters arc warm and alive, and his description of the varied activities of ' station life aro as vivid as they aro [ veracious. His style is vigorous but ■ disciplined, bespeaking a faculty of ; expression never permitted to get out ;of hand. Mr. Palmer won the first prize in the "Bulletin's" competition for the best Australian-made novel of 1930. Stanley Paul and Co., London, . are the publishers of "Men Are Human. ''