NEW NOVELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXII, Issue 19061, 4 July 1925, Page 4 (Supplement)

NEW NOVELS.

"Landscape With Figures," by Ronald Fraser (Fisher Unwin). Mr. Eraser's first novel was' a distinguished success, completely gratifying the interest and curiosity of those who looked for originality and sought promise of a now teller of tales. In " The Flying Draper," Mr. Fr.user adventured into unexplored regions iof imagination, and managed his enterprise with a skill that won admiration. Tire broad lines of that conception inevitably recalled the early Wellsian romances, though the treatment and the atmosphere were entirely fresh. ■ In his second book. Mr. Fraser has achieved another success. His voyaging has been in an entirely i different direction and by an equally (novel vehicle. Its inspiration has been drawn from contemplation of Chinese pictures and porcelain, and the whole hook gives the impression of unreality that is characteristic of their art. The scenes and the people of a mysterious valley in China have all the brilliance and illusion of tho pictures which are supposed to have 'ingested them, hut the novelty of the author's skill is revealed by the introduction into this bizarre en-vironme-'it of a company of English people, utterly foreign to tho landscapes into which they so wonderfully merge. Out i <>f his ingenious imagination are discovered a bewildering variety of strange inventions jii (ihilosopy and physics and biology. Tho book is merely a fantastic excursion, with no other purpose than to amuse, but as entertainment, it is as delightful as if is original. "Marsh Candles," by Al,:n .1. Thomp80U (Fisher Unwin), is a literary illustration of the inheritance oi an earlier generation's characteristics. The story itself has no definite period; its coitstru<itinn places it in a stage of evolution decades before the war, so that it may be described as wholesome, n-lief from excessive consumption of modern novel.". There is a heroine whose nobiliiy of character triumphs-over the unscrupulous cunning of her scheming parent; the hero s handsome, brave, but withal rather stupid; and jealous, Hint-hearted females assist in harassing tho good lady so that ! Jier sufferings are reflected iu a conventional wilting of her beauty. All the familiar characters appear again—tiie foreigner, with his broken English and sacrificing devotion; tho faithful retainers, the austere family lawyer. Wealth and jealousy, errant affection's and bitter hate, picked plotting and devastating retribuion are all faithfully revived. It is a good old-fashioned novel, a reminder that there aro still greod and cruelty and simple lovo in tho world of fiction, withont any per- • ptesing analysis o£ the trivial emotions of inhuman people.