PUBLICATION RECEIVED

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 29 November 1938, Page 10

PUBLICATION RECEIVED

j Ruby M. Ayres will add to her army j of admirers by her latest novel, “Unj official Wife.” She adopts quite a new theme and although there is the inevitable love interest, the plot is original and there is clever constructive effort in some of the situations created. These are in the main due to the fact that Aunt Betsy—“the Warrior” —a wealthy, stern old lady whose pride and unforgiveness had driven romance from her own life, did not die so soon as was expected. Meanwhile, Richard Harwood, her nephew, to comply with certain conditions regarding inheritance, had taken the charming Syrie Mason as his “unofficial,” platonic wife. When “the Warrior” continued to livein her accustomed dictatorial fashion, and the “unofficial” marriage arrangement is prolonged beyond the few months anticipated, it is not surprising that complications arise and there are a few departures from the path of verity. The position becomes more acute as another man’s earlier association with Syrie is revealed and “The Warrior” receives an anonymous letter from a jealous woman “putting her wise” to certain facts. Meanwhile Richard and Syrie have fallen in love with each other in the course of their platonic arrangement, which was due to Richard’s real fondness for his aunt and his desire to please her. There is a dramatic climax and although it may be that there was remarkably good luck in Richard’s finding of Syrie after she had fled as the outcome of a tensely dramatic and pathetic scene in which Aunt Betsy revealed what she knew and uncovered some lying, the reader will be satisfied with the conclusion. In any case “Aunt Bet • " war "grimly content.” Hodder and Stoughton arc the publishers of "Unofficial Wife.” and our copy reaches us from W. S. Smart, their Australian repres -n- ---| tative.