THE BOOKSHELF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21296, 24 September 1932, Page 9 (Supplement)

THE BOOKSHELF

STORY OF THE EAST. LIFE IN TURKISH PRISON ii It will be that in ' Bengal lancer," there was a break of several j years, including the war years, which not dealt with. Mr. Francis Yeats- v Brown spent most of that time in a Turkish prison in Mesopotamia, Anatolia and Constantinople, and he has given an u account of it in " Golden Horn." For some unexplained reason he has prefaced t his personal experiences with a hearsay, imaginative account running into over s 100 pages, of Turkish politics, including the rise of the Young Turks and the de- £ position of the "Red" Sultan, Abdul j Hamid. Mr. Yeats-Brown never steps j aside to avoid a horror, in fact, he may be t accused of deliberately stepping into them. ; The res ult is a very racy if highly a coloured account, easily read, and dealing j mostly in " high lights." Mr. Yeats- c Brown is skilful in selecting the essentials ] of anv chain of events# His account of St-... Vitus Day, 1914, in Serajevo, and the j momentous assassination of the Archduke j Ferdinand, paints a clearer picture than f Stephen Graham's full length book. ] But easily the best part of " Golden i Horn " is the personal narrative, written 1 in the same attractive style which has ] already won such appreciation in "Bengal Lancer," Captured while acting as en observer iri an aeroplane, the author < was imprisoned in Baghdad in 1915. After ] various adventures and attempts to es- 3 cape, he succeeded in being sent to hos- ] pital in Constantinople. His ruso was the ; most extraordinary and whole-hearted one of embracing Mohammedanism and under- : going the operation necessary, to prepare him to become a novitiate. Mr. Yeats- : Brown was a most restless prisoner and never relaxed his efforts to escape. Once be enjoyed a spell of freedom as Mademoiselle Josephine, a charming German governess, another time as a Hungarian mechanifc. He suffered at times that refinement pf barbarity which the Turks have made their own, but acknowledges with gratitude the many kindnesses he received. Even the Turks have tasted grace. He touches once more on Yogi, and describes the mental processes which ielped him to endure thisi trying time. Miking an excursion into the occult, he gives a remarkable happening when either by c6incidence or otherwise the curtain . of the future was lifted for a moment. Lacking perhaps the full charm of " Bengal Lancer," " Golden Horn is nevertheless an outstanding book. "Golden Horn," by Francis Teats-Brown. (GolliinCz.; FRENCH HISTORY INCIDENT MURDER OF A DUCHESS An incident in French history has protided Mr. Shearing with a basis for his etdry " Forget-me-not." In the forties of the last century a Duchess was murdered by her husband, who poisoned himself before he could be tried, but the governess in the house was arrested and only released after a merciless examination. There had already been a great deal of comment concerning the probable relationship, between the governess and the Duchess' husband. Ml*. Shearing reconstructs the life of the governess, whom be holds morally responsible for the crime. The story is most vigorously told ' and the character of Lucille, the governess, is developed in an interesting and provocative manner. » Circumstances made an adventuress of Lncille. She had unusual intelligence, an education above her station, and a delicate beauty. At thirty, after various ups nnd downs, she enters the household of the Duke as a governess to his children, j For the first time in her life she has opportunity to develop and use her extraordinary personality. She has success . with the children where many have f ailed. The Duchess is a poor manager, and as Lucille soon has authority to take over the management of the house, it is not long/ before she dominates the entire establishment. Power becomes her, and the Duke, harassed by a delicate and hysterical wife, turns *to Lucille, who creates peace and order on all sides. Lucille's character makes an unusual but convincing study. She is the Becky Sharp type, but even more •cynical. The murder which puts an end to all her ' hopes, which brings about the death of the man slje deeply loved, was wholly unexpected, although she realises immediately that she is indirectly the cause. In the merciless cross-examination which follows her arrest, she does not for one moment lose her head. She emerges seemingly triumphant, marries and leaves France for America. Mr. Shearing gives a glimpse of her long after, still tortuied by regrets. The book is full of interest both as a_ murder story and a psychological study. •'Ff>rget-me-not," by Joseph Shearing. (Heinemann.) BOOK SOCIETY RECOMMENDATION I STORY. OF AMERICAN LIFE Anne Parrisirs new novel, ''Toads of i'.ove," < is recommended by «tho ' Society. It is her fourth novel, and mil no doubt delight those who have been enthusiastic admirers of her earlier vtoiK. But outside America, one wonders . lie hf>ok is full of American middle-class idiom, which falls clumsily and insensitively on English ears. It is about dull, r-rnall-town people who happen to live iri Boston,, and who surely lack giai„e or attraction of any kind. V\ hy-—AV y 1 Miss Parrish choose to write about these people?-A hero whom the gods love, and Three adoring heroines, is poor enough material for a novel these days. If tbeie is a feeling abroad among English women novelists that twentieth-century man is inadeouate, that feeling has not yet spread to Miss Pnrrish's Amenca. Edward, the hero of " £oads of Love, is absolutely adequate. Bessie Plummer has pride of place n the novel, but one reads and finishes in finite of Bessie. She has « or f I tha " ,?£ share of everything—of health wea and the desire to promote happiness. M . Parrish makes of her a fatal g • is. Bessie who unconsciously influences and < onfusesr everyone's life. She inv,tes h6rd6s m people, most of whom dislike her, to her luxurious summer camp. It is a P fret setting for Edwards Unfortunately he can marry f on y > the others are left lamenting It is■ a>l fo unreal, so overweighted «i _ Anne that any desire to read a futur Parrish is annihilated. _ " Loads of Love," by Anne Parnsh. KBenn.)