NOVEL OF DISTINCTION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21136, 19 March 1932, Page 8 (Supplement)

NOVEL OF DISTINCTION.

" THE MUSHROOM FIELD." | A novel of distinction is " The Mushroom Field," by Miss Mabel L. Tyrrell. The theme may be old, but tho plot is new, and it is drawn from an angle which makes tlio denouement unexpectedly dramatic. It is an artistic bit of work enriched by a satisfying intellectual background. It wffl appeal to those who read mainly for the story and romance, but just as much to those who love the masterly drawing of character. So clearcut are the figures that the reader feels that the emotions and secrets of living people are being unfolded. The "mushroom field" is just the local name of the site of the haven home of aging Millicent Charlesworth, at the window of which she sits and reads the story while waiting for the arrival of tho lovable Christina and Julian, the younger, whose mystery lives practically to the last two words of tho book. The bar sinister clouds his life until love awakens, and Christina is rescued from a sacrificial marriage she had intended to make. The war-shocked Durham is a. t fine piece of characterisation, - and so also is that of Helen, the girl's mother, but perhaps the best study is that of Millicent herself, although self-expressed. That decisivo lady is not afflicted by tho wearisome habit of devoting much time to verbal self-examination. She seems to reveal herself by unconscious effort. " The Mushroom Field," by Mabel L. Tyrrell. (Hodder and Stoughton.)