BOOK NOTES.

Hutt News, Volume 1, Issue 14, 30 August 1928, Page 2

BOOK NOTES.

(By "Observer.")

"Joshua's Vision" will be the title of William J. Locke's next book which is described as '( the Drama of the Tangled Fate of a Simple Man."

In connection with the publication of "General Crack" by George Preedy, the following letter, written by the Publisher's Reader to the Autoh, is well worth quoting:—"l have just finished reading '' General Crack and I sat up late two nights, drove my family away, resisted the temptation of a game of bridge, and simply gave myself up to the delight of rea-iiiiig that book. ». cumt. 1 ......

vellous. Long as it is I kept waiting for the end of it anxiously and rejoicing like .a miser as I went along that there was still more to read, I do think you have done a wonderful piece of fiction and I assure you that we are going to set out to give this book the success it deserves. The book is a gorgeous succession of pictures that bring a by-gone age to life; are the delineation of the characters of Christian, Leopold' and Hensdorff and others is really wonderful. You. have certainly given me a great deal of pleasure and I thank you.''

'' Perishable Goods'' is the title of Dornford Yates's new book which Hodder and Stoughton have just published. The author has written a fragrant, chiv- ' alrous story of the rescue of a fair lady by a very perfect modern gentleman. Because Mansel, Hanbury and Chandos. had made a fortune, "Rose" Noble had lost one. He returned to the charge in a letter addressed to Mansel: "The stolen goods will be returned on the receipt of five hundred thousand pounds. jNTo time should be lost, for. the goods are perishable." The "goods" are Mansel \s beloved friend Adele Pleydell, between whom and Marsel '' there never was so gentle a relation.'' The three friends, and Tester, the Sealyham, journey to Carinthea where Adele is imprisoned in the almost impregnable Castle of Garth. The tense, grim struggle that was waged in and around the castle was to the death; and when " Rose" fell, shot through the head, Mansel, his task Accomplished, lay close to death upon the bed of kings. * * * ♦

Maurice Dekobra, whose "Madonna of the Sleeping Cars" caused much amusement at the expense of the Russian Revolutioners has written a new story called "The Phamton Gondola.

Golfers will find much to interest them in a book which Hodder and" Stoughton will shortly published called "Green Memories" by Bernard Darwin. The author has had a wide experience of golf since he first played for Cambridge in 1895 down to the present day. He has played for Britain against America, for England against Scotland a number of times, and has twice reached the semifinal of the Amateur Championship. Since 1908 he has been writing about golf, in particular, for the "London Times," and lie has watched practically all the greatest matches of the last twenty years, including some of the most famous ladies' matches. He lias twice been to America on a" golfing errand, once with a Walker Cup Team, and was incidentally one of the very few Britons who saw Quimet beat Ray and Vardon m 3913, a victory which gave an immense impetus to American golf and may almost be said to mark the beginning of its supremacy. He has a good deal to say, in an easy going manner, about these great matches, as also about University golf and the Oxford and Cambrige Golfing Society; a little also about some of his own matches and the courses which have been his particular happy hunting grounds. The golf is quite untechnical, and is, so to speak, diluted, so those who are nqt passinately interested in golf for its own. sake may yet read it with pleasure. Nor is the book all about golf by any means. The author is the grandson of Charles Darwin, and lived in the house at Down till his grandfather's death, and •there is an interesting chapter "On Being a Darwin." Here is some account of his time in college at Eton and also at Cambridge, some pleasant memories of Merionethshire, an account of his experiences in journalism, and in war time, particularly in Macedonia, and memories of other games that he has watched with the romantic eye of a hero-worshipper. English price of the "book is 18/-.

"The Ladder of Folly jT"is the title of Muriel Hine's new bobk. John Lane of the Bodley Head is the publisher. Martin Lawrence Ltd promise something unusual in the way of literary pabulum for the English-speaking races. The firm intend to publish Lenin's