LIGHT LITERATURE

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 88, 13 April 1935, Page 28

LIGHT LITERATURE

SOME RECENT NOVELS

The eternal triangle figures in "Who Wins?" a romance by J. P. Russell (Herbert Jenkins). It tells the story of a rich, middle-aged m*i who married a beautiful statue for a wife, how he tired of her, and how he longed to marry a young girl of good family and no money who had been brought up in the strictest Puritanism. It describes the young woman's life when she broke away from her family ties and married this man, and reveals why her true life's happiness was so long delayed.

"Mary Peters," by Mary Ellen Chase (Collins), has proved to be a bestseller in the United States. Its main theme is the indestructible influence of the sea upon those natures intimately connected with it. Mary Peters was born on a clipper ship off Singapore and for fifteen years was brought up and educated on her father's vessel. This is the story of her experiences as a child at sea, of her entrance into the life on shore in the eighties, and of her later full, rich life, always under the influence of her earlier years at sea.

The romantic history of South Africa is told in the form of a novel by Norman Giles in "Dark Border" (Collins). The troubles between the English and Dutch, as well as the Kaffir problem, are treated as .fiction with a historical background, and the resulting story is an eminently readable one. "The Son of Richard. Carden," by Neil Bell (Collins), is a vivid and passionate tale of the boundless affection, love, and loyalty between father and son. The.father is not, however, a very pleasant character, but the son, fortunately, does not take after him. Described as "abounding in passion and drama," "The Silver Girl," by Frank Walford (T. Werner Laurie, Ltd.), purports to tell how a man may love many women and be true to the lot. Crime and passion are well mixed in this tale which the jacket labels as "daring." "The Accidental Don Juan, by tdgar Jepson (Herbert Jenkins), is a light story about a young man, who, seeking peace and quiet on the shores of the North Sea, found himself involved in many adventures amongst the / air sex. fishermen, smugglers, and alleged spies. , . Those who care for a simple Irish romance may appreciate "The Glen of Carra" by. Patrick Mac Gill (Herbert Jenkins). This story of a strange wooing is written with realism and imagination and is less harsh than some of the author's previous work. MYSTERY TALES. "Diamond Duel," by S. G. Hedges (Herbert Jenkins), has little new. in it | in the way of plot, but swift action makes amends for any deficiency in this respect. A diamond of immense size is the cause of considerable trouble to all who handle it, and on this theme is constructed an exciting tale. Having wandered into a neglected waxworks gallery, the heroine of "Wax" by Ethel Lina White (Collins), tests the legend that anyone who. spends the night in the gallery is found dead next morning. She is only saved from a terrible fate by an unexpected development. __. , . . "A Question of Proof," by Nicholas Blake, is conceived with the mysterious murder of a boy at a fashionable preparatory school. A young man!from Oxford is clever enough to solve the mystery which will probably baffle most readers. . In "Mountain Mystery" (Collins) J. Jefferson Farjeon, who has few rivals for creepy skill in. mysterious adventure, breaks new ground. A young man sailing round the world by himself is wrecked on a rocky and inhospitable coast. Here in a strange and forbidding mountainous land he discovers a curious community, and his adventures are fantastic, mysterious, and exciting..