RECENT FICTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20988, 26 September 1931, Page 9 (Supplement)

RECENT FICTION.

TWO FIRST NOVELS. "The Opening of a Door." by George Davis. (Hamish Hamilton.) " Young Diana," by Margaret Ironside. (Philip Earle.) « The Moth of Holiness." by Paul Bloomfield. (The Bodley Head.) , EES into a huntod bnmes A door swings open lor an an,l then is shut; qucs'K™ rise, never to be answered Something of this momentary quality, the blight ness of the sharplv-etched. pictuie an the sense of the unsolved and insohib mvs'tery of human relationsh.ps is to be found in " The -Opening of a Door „ first novel, bv an American author. The door opens upon the MacDougail Im.h Scotch Canadians, but now living in a Chicago fiat. The drawing of he two old people is masterly, and differentiation of type in the sons and daughters there is a power andl of touch which mark the author as coming man among American novelists. ***** " Young Diana " is another first n ° vel > but of a very different kinch Written one imagines, by a young En^sh^ r '' herself the book has the story of Diana's experiences as a governess to an objectionable family in Barcelona, and her subsequent achievements in saving a worthless brother from The gallows, is told with a freshness and verve that disarm criticism. ****** The author of " The Moth of Holiness, " his apparently an earlier booK to his credit, but he is sufiicientiy to the general reading public to be lankect among first novelists. lhe cuiious titl f 5 taken Iron, Burton's " Anatomy , 0 Melancholy," where hypocrisy is thus described. The story, which concerns a group of more or less bright young peop e ?n London, tells how Oliver Druce. falls in love with Katie York, marries her, is disillusioned, and rides away with earlier love. It is inconclusive in the modern way, and there is but on ® h^ e pennyworth of action to an intolerable deal of talk.