UNUSUAL STORY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21882, 18 August 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

UNUSUAL STORY

MODERN WESTPHALIA A strange tale indeed is told in "The Virgin's Brand," a novel by Leo Porutz, translated from the German by E. B. G. Stamper and E. M. Hodgson. Everything about the story is most unusual. It is told in the first person by a man convalescent from serious injuries while he lies in hospital. The most weird experiences imaginable are recounted as having happened a few days previously in the small village of Morwede in Westphalia. The hospital authorities insist that their patient has been unconscious for weeks.

" Why are they lying to me? " the unfortunate man asks himself, and while endeavouring to reason out the situation goes on to unfold the story of his amazing adventures when acting as District Medical Officer in the Westphalian village. The people he met and lived with there are surely some of the most unusual and interesting characters of fiction. The Baron, head man of the district, with his mysterious scientific experiments and amazing endeavours for the restoration of an ancient line of Kings; the Russian exPrince who acted as the Baron's agent and manager of the estate, whose mania was gambling at cards; the schoolmaster who could say 110 good word for any of his neighbours; Bibiche, the beautiful girl who assisted with the Baron's experiments in the laboratory, and the old Padre who deplored scientific research which entailed un-Godly methods of meddling with the minds of the peasants. There is love, mystery and drama, with a tragic climax in the revolt of the peasants led by the ex-Prince who betrayed his master. To tell any mors of the story would spoil it for many who will find it exceedingly interesting and certainly informative regarding the trend of thought and human endeavour among the post-war peasantry of Germany.

" The Virein's Brand," by Xieo Perutz. (Thornton Butterwortk.)