BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

Evening Star, Issue 23651, 10 August 1940, Page 4

BOOKS AND BOOKMEN

A Literary Corner, z

STIRRING DESERT STORY Neither a “ sheik ” romance nor a Foreign Legion tale, ‘ Desert Sanctuary,’ the latest book by Davide Sernicoli, author of ‘ Desert Interlude ’ and ‘ Desert Chivalry,’ is yet a good adventure romance with plenty of stirring action. It opens in the latter days of the Spanish war, with Renato Mirandez, a young nobleman, deprived of his vast possessions. Deserting from an army whose cause does not interest him, he sails for Africa to join the “ International Corps.” Follows skirmishes with the wild Touareg and the by-play of barracks life, until he becomes infatuated with a _ lady of the desert. This causes complications many and varied, not least being an estrangement with an elder brother. A dramatic sequel closes the story. Davide Sernicoli has found a background for adventure peculiarly his own, and his treatment is fully adequate. Messrs Herbert Jenkins Ltd. are the publishers.

‘NAPOLEON AND WELLINGTON* ‘ Napoleon and Wellington,’ by Lieu-tenant-colonel Charles O. Head, D.S.O. (Robert Hale) adds another to the 40,000 odd books which have discussed the merits and demerits of Napoleon Bonaparte. There is a glamour about the Man of Destiny ” that makes any book about him attractive to a large number of readers. In the present work the two great military leadens are contrasted in the light of their characters and achievements. This work also reveals that quaint inconsistency of the English character. After Napoleon’s downfall, the author points out, through some extraordinary contradiction of political proclivities hp had become the darling of all the Liberal and Radical elements of Great Britain. Forgetting the dangers that country had passed through under the Napoleonic threat, false sympathy and sentimentalism followed the imprisonment at St. Helena. British soldiers began to follow his military exploits and allowed themselves to be carried away by the glitter of his achievements without looking deeper at their fundamental value. By these people Napoleon, who had so ardently longed for the defeat of England, was deified; Wellington, its saviour, was disparaged and discredited. The author of this book, in his youth, influenced by the views of his father, was a fervent admirer of Napoleon, and adopted the idea that was expressed by his admirers that by comparison the Old Duke was little better than a “ sergeant in command of_ a guard.” Much study of military history and of Napoleonic times convinced Colonel Head of the error of his estimates of the two military commanders. “ It was eventually the many accounts of Waterloo that matured ray opinion. Here indeed was a consummate military commander with hardly a flaw in his equipment, who could stand comparison with any that ever lived, and even emerge supreme from the trial, were the jury strictly impartial.” The discusses at length Napoleon’s campaigns and the Peninsular War. In concluding ah attractively-written book, the result of much research in contemporary documents, Colonel Head writes; ‘‘ As a statesman, maintaining England’s place in the world, and watching over her destiny, we have never possessed one more faithful, powerful, or competent. Only Cromwell and Disraeli compare with him as national guardians, only Marlborough as a soldier, and very few as an upright, straightforward man. In the combination of all three characters we have had no one to equal him.” ‘ SERENADE TO A STRANGER' Prize winner of a competition for romantic novels last ‘year, Elizabeth Margeston offers a typical story -in ‘ Serenade toa Stranger.’ Her heroine, Kay Linlay, is eager to make her way in the world of serious musical composition, but she is thrown off her balance somewhat when her publisher conspires with a band leader to convert her latest effort into swing time. This chance fortune brings her some fame, but not happiness, as she has fallen in love with the man who is to marry her famous but irresponsible mother. This tangled skein of human relations is, however, handled skilfully by the author, and all ends happily. The publishers are Messrs Ward, Lock, and Co, Ltd., London. ‘ ANCHOR'S AWEICH ’ E. Laurie Long is a prolific writer of sea yamsj and his latest story, ‘Anchor’s Aweigh,’ is mainly concerned with adventure afloat. Evelyn Mervyl, daughter of a ship owner, is on a Norwegian pleasure cruise when she receives news of his death. Leaving the luxury liner, she travels home on one of her father’s small cargo steamers, and unexpectedly finds adventure and romance. A shipment of nickel has attracted the attention of German agents, but, in spite of their endeavours, Evelyn and the second mate. Tod Fairley, manage to circumvent them and bring the cargo safely to England. Messrs Ward, Lock, and Co. Ltd. are the publishers. .* DYNAMITE ’ In ‘ Dynamite,’ Mr Victor Bayley, C.1.E., C.8.E., offers an excellent story of India. It deals mainly with the lives and adventures of British engineers on a railway construction job through one of the independent States, and takes the reader into by-paths of religion and the caste system. The narrative is thrilling and interesting, and the characteristics are exceptionally well drawn. The engineers find trouble with political extremists, who in the end succeed in blowing up one of the newly-built tunnels of the railways. Romantic interest is added in the experiences of the wife of the chief engineer. The publishers are Messrs Robert Hale Ltd., London.

* Notes and Queries ’ has stoutly affirmed that no novel of any worth at all can be justly appraised, even by the most experienced and imaginative reviewer, without being read through at least twice. It believes that many of the deserved strictures on reviewers are so deserved because their remarks have behind them no more than a single perusal.

VERSE

NEW BOOKS

RAF. They ride the skies, those Chosen Ones, Stern warriors of Day, To seek beneath an hundred suns JJlack Infamy’s array. Gay Paladins of fearless eye. Stout-hearted, undismayed, Waking new splendour in the sky They launch the great Crusade! The portals of the night unbar. Her,starry gates outswing, While eager Templars from afar Rush through on urgent wing To storm the Citadel of Death, Where Eblis’ banner flies, And blast the foe with fiery breath— They ride the midnight skies! Dear gallant souls I Brave hearts of steel I With high endeavour blest, Beneath whose strokes the hellhordes reel! ■ God speed their gallant quest! ’Neath glowing sun and starry light Those Paladins fly on Inspired to battle for the right Till their Crusade be won! —Lancelot Cayley Shadwell.

WORLD AFFAIRS A useful series of cheap pamphlets is being issued by Messrs Angus and Robertson, Sydney and London, publishers, dealing with world affairs, preeminently the war, seen through Australian eyes. The first, by Mr H. S. Nicholas, treats lucidly and succinctly of the ‘ Origins and Causes of the War,’ as to which the Nazis themselves have left no room for argument. It is merely a .matter of keeping the facts in their right order and perspective. No. 2, on ‘ The Real Costs of War,’ by Dr R. C. Mills, states a truth not always palatable when it says: “ For the community as a whole there is no escape from the real costs of war, and the greater the war effort •‘■he greater the costs. ’ ‘ Transport of Food in War ’ is the subject of the next pamphlet, which is by Dr Eric Ashby. In No. 4, _Dr C. E. W. Bean, who was Australia’s chief correspondent in the last great struggle, and its official historian, writes most interestingly on ‘ The Old A.I.F. and the New.’ Dr A. H. M'Donald deals with ‘ Great Britain, the French, and Ourselves.’ The argument for the closest possible cooperation between Britain and France, on the ground of traditions and love of freedom, as opposed to the German ambition of world domination, is pressed cogently and with historical knowledge. When the pamphlet was written, France had not met with disaster. No. 6, by Mr J. A. M'Callum, tells the story of ‘ Hitler and the Trade Unions.’ “It is true,” he points out, “that Hitler has found work for the workless and provided free amusements for millions who found life very dull before his seizure of power. But what is the price? In one word—freedom.” The story of Poland, till its fourth partition, is told by Dr Margot Hentze. From the Ministry of Information comes a pamphlet, enriched by graphs, ‘ Assurance of Victory,' whose scope can be gathered from its chapter-head-ings: “Why We are at War,” “How the World Lines Up,” “ The Fighting Forces,” “Sinews of War,” “The Home Front.” “ This war,” we are told, “ will expose the fatal weaknesses of the Nazi structure; every acute crisis will bring the regime nearer to disaster. The_ immense staying-power of democracy is the final guarantee of Allied triumph.” ‘ The War at Sea,’ printed in England for Continental Publishers and Distributors Ltd., tells the same story, for one department, by means of photographs, graphs, and explanatory captions, and very convincing they are. GHOSTS IN ITALY Ghostly and mysterious happenings causing material loss and mental disturbance to a small party of archteologists, engineers and others who are engaged in raising an ancient pleasure barge which had lain beneath the waters of a lake in the Appenines for a thousand years, provides llamsay Bell with plenty of material with which to thrill readers of his latest book ‘ The Lake of Ghosts.’ The ghostly element in the story, however, might nave been handled a little more effectively had the author possessed greater knowledge of psychic phenomena. This would have enabled him to envelope the yarn in a more deepy mysterious atmosphere; as it is, he is obviously Sst hiding something all the time, owever, two of the characters at least—the young English archaeologist Elizabeth Lane and the rugged Scottish engineer Fergus Mackinnin are well drawiij and it is in these and in Mario Dulciti, a young Italian scientist who ultimately solves the mystery, that the reader will become interested. But there is incident aplenty, some of it highly exciting, while the gradual growth of love between the attractive Elizabeth and the taciturn Fergus is made to appear as the natural consummation of a series of disturbing episodes. Our copy is from the publishers, Messrs Hodder and Stoughton Ltd. IH BORROWED PLUMES In America, Dorothy Hart, daughter of a millionaire, suddenly tires of her aimless pleasure-filled life, so she leaves home to made her own living. In England the millionaire Earl of Leybourne, reading of her decsion, betakes it upon himself to “go and do likewise.” The two meet, and in their working class disguise fall in love, each being unaware of the otheir’s real identity. The affair is brought to a head through the machinations of two fugitive gangsters who recognise Dorothy in London and consider they have a probable source of revenue through discovering her. This, in brief outline, is the substance of Alexander Wilson’s latest novel ‘ Double Masquerade.’ In it he completely deserts Sir Leonard Wallace, Chief of the Secret Service, who has been the central character in so many of his previous works, and the change to light romance shows the author to better advantage. The publishers are Messrs Herbert Jenkins, Ltd.