NEW BOOKS

Evening Star, Issue 23729, 9 November 1940, Page 4

NEW BOOKS

VIVID NARRATIVE Mr lon Idriess, who is accepted as Australia’s greatest story teller, is a pioneer in. his own right and had many roving adventures before he wrote his way to fame. In' his latest book, ‘ Lightning Ridge,’ Mr Idriess tells of his own boyhood, and how he was first persuaded to write paragraphs for the ‘ Bulletin.’ ‘ Lightning Ridge,’ a story of the Australian opal fields, is one of Mr Idriess’s brightest and best books, and sets on record another chapter in Australia’s picturesque history. The romance of opal seeking captured the imagination of the author while he was in his teens, and he became, after many other jobs as rouseabout, horse breaker, horse tailer, and shearer, an opal “ gouger ” at the mines at Lightning Ridge, where he shared the miners’ hardships, misfortunes, and successes.'' The stories he tells of his mates show that truth is stranger than fiction, also that the author is rich in sympathy and understanding. It is a vivid narrative, extremely interesting and has the hall mark of being authentic. Our copy of ‘ Lightning Ridge ’ is from the publishers, Messrs Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney.

AUSTRALIAN SHORT STORIES

Frank Dalby Davison is an Australian writer who earned not unmerited praise from the critics with his book, 4 ManShy,’ a story of wild cattle. He has now published a second book, 1 The Woman at the Mill,’ a collection of 15 short stories, the majority of which are based upon happenings in a struggling Queensland district. Practically all the stories possess the quality of characterisation in a marked degree, plus a grimly real atmosphere. Several carry an unexpected ironic twist, as in 4 Here Comes the Bride,’ the irony of the moment having a much wider application than contained in the circumstances of the tale. Of the quality of the stories in the “ Interlude ’’ section of the book, as well as a few of thn settlement yarns, this reviewer finds it impossible to form any opinion due to the shocking binding which has resulted in two or three sections of 16 pages each being duplicated and other sections of the same number of panes being left out. The publishers are Messrs Angus and Robertson.