NEW NOVELS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20958, 22 August 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

NEW NOVELS.

VARIETY IN A TRIO. " 1 Unlicensed Prospector,** by F, E. Mills Young. <i he Botiify Head.) '' The Ironmaster," by Alan So Si-ran. (Mnrray.) "Holy Man," by J. Harvey HsU. (AEen and t..nwin.j -diss Mills Yonng has chosen a rather dull title for her latest book, but the tale 'itself is swift and exciting. Four men, including Brian Besshaw, the hero of the story, embark upon an illicit diamond-prospecting expedition to Namaqualand. Their plans are cleverly laid, and though three of them arc arrested for venturing into a forbidden area, the fourth man has escaped • unsuspected with the loot, and no diamonds being found in their possession the others escape with a he;avy fine, Bui. now the inherent weakness of the scheme is revealed. Honour among thieves, despite the old saw, is a rarity, but the subsequent adventures of the four partner's excellently illustrates the truth of another proverbial saying about honesty. Brian Benshaw is a likeable young scamp, neither* hero nor blackguard. and the reader is conscious of an unregenerate satisfaction over his success in outwitting the most dangerous member oi the quartet. Were it. not for a list oi four earlier books to the credit of the author, the naivete and ingenuousness of " The Ironmaster " would lead one to believe it to be a first novel. It is the tale of one John Driver, son of a line of ironmasters in the North of England. Having resolved in extreme youth to fleer clear of women's wiles, he naturally falls heavily for the first designing little " gold-digger " he meets, and for this 4-1 bunch of feathers," as his grandfather contemptuously calls her, thro-sVi away his chance oi marriage with the mohle girl who has loved him long in silence. So far the story runs tree to type, and though there is certainly an element of surprise in the solution of the quadrangular problem involved, the unlikelihood of the happy ending thus forcibly contrived gives an air of amateurishness to the story. Quite the best part of the book is the vivid description of the working of a great iron foundry in which " metal bows down to man, ductile and obedient.". ****«• The healing gift, as seen from the religions, the scientific, and the mercenary i points of view, is the theme of " Holy ( Man." John Muir, the egotistical young I Highlander, who discovers in himself the strange power; Janet Logan, the girl whom he callously deserts for fear that hitman love should interfere with its -exercise jr the minister, with his quiet, wisdom and insight into the weaknesses of human nature —these and aS the other characters in this' picture of a Scottish village are remarkable for their fidelity to actual life. The book ends on a pessimistic note. Janet, torn by the pangs of her despised love, tries to drown herself. The doctor, who loves her, manages by artificial respiration to save hsir life. But he has to resign her to John, now overcome with* remorse for his cruelty. The doctor feels he would have been more merciful to let her drown: " That boy may think he loves her now—more than life, he told her—but it's himself he loves first—himself and his hoiv work.''