PUBLIC LIBRARIES

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 153, 26 December 1936, Page 17

PUBLIC LIBRARIES

BOOKS OF THE WEEK.

The Chief Librarian of the Wellington • Public ' Libraries has chosen "Crocus," by Neil Bell, and "Housemaster,"' by lan Hay, as the books of the week, and has furnished the following reviews:—; Appreciation of Neil Bell is world wide. He has behind him the success of a dozen novels and many short stories, all of which are written in his individual style. That is why his latest novel, "Crocus," which has been recently added to the Central Library, will rouse interest among readers. The theme of "Crocus" is not a very extraordinary, one, but some of the trends of its development are rather unusual: Louis Delfontaine, a gipsy seller' of cheapjack medicines and curealls, is the central character, but his place is often usurped in the novel by his adopted son, Jeth, who moves through these pages with the athletic youthful zest of a human tiger. • That this epithet is apposite can be seen from the fact that Jeth becomes an expert boxer when he is mature. We first meet with Louis in the fairgrounds, of England where he wanders selling his wares. Continual success brings him in contact with enterprising salesmen, with at least one of whom he makes a successful alliance, and sets up in private practice as an uncertificated medical adviser. Delfontaine's success enables Jeth to attend school, but the call of the road is too potent, and he is drawn back to the'old gipsy life. -The love of father and son for Reni, a gipsy girl whom Louis has adopted, leads to a final conflict between them. It is in the hard school of the road that we accompany Delfontaine for the first part of the book, and the description of events is heavily laden with words from the Romany language, which have made many footnotes necessary. To some readers these notes may tend to delay progress too considerably, nevertheless they have a great fascination. A good deal of research on the part of the author must have been entailed in Ihe writing of this book. "For;instance, the.long rehearsals of the nature and qualities of herbs, as spoken by Louis, could not have been written without some knowledge of the many details recorded, aiid the line of talk which Delfontaine-Employs . is typical cheapjack talk. A crowd of people in Wellington here the other day were clustered round an itinerant cheapjack responding in exactly the same way to the same type of sales talk which Delfontaine employed to sell such sovereign remedies as "Sheba's Pride," "Eve's Joy," "Excelsior," "Vade Satana," and "Cock Robin Elixir." These are only some of the, ingenious and apt names invented by Louis Delfontaine to set off, the qualities of his goods. Perhaps it was wise of him later to change their names to more pharmaceutical synonyms when he took up wholesale supplies'throughout the country under thelstyle of Hygeia Health and Toilet Preparations'. Right throughout this story there is the inimitable nomad atmosphere, with its ineffable charm, and it is the successful infusion of this which leads the reader on. Only brief reference to "Housemaster," by lan Hay, is necessary. For excellent light vreadirig this story of life in an English public school could hardly be.excelled.. Novelty is introduced by the fact that three lively girls educated in Paris are suddenly brought to live in one of the. houses of the school. Charles Donkin is the housemaster who gives the story its title, and his adventure's are life-like and amusins. . ~„■.„•„..•, . „'.., JRECENT LIBRARY ADDITIONS. Other titles selected from recent accession lists are as follows:— . ■ ■ General.—"No Place Like Home," by B. Nicholls; "The Untold- Story of Exploration," by L. J. Thomas; "The Ghost Walks-on Fridays/ by S. Blow. Fiction: "Time ■ Piece," by N. Jacob; '"The Doctor," by M. R. Rinehart; "Back Again," by P. G. Mackail.