LATEST FICTION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22402, 24 April 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

LATEST FICTION

"MAIDENS BEWARE" A WARNING TO NOVELISTS Mary Mitchell, of "Warning to Wantons" fame, is not altogether successful in hor latest novel, "Maidens Beware." The background is romantic. In central Europe, six hours from Vienna, is the Castle of Jashti, where the remnants of the noble family of Andriev li\-e on the !ean of the land. Stefan, charming, handsome and irresponsible, is the head of the house, and Kathe, his widowed sister, the only other surviving member of the family..Kathe lives at Jashti out of season. In season, with the-help of her wits, she flourishes in the fashionable world. The story opens with Kathe and "Stefan at Jashti, and to beguile the tedium of the coming summer Kathe invites a little English cousin, Susan, to visit them. Susan arrives and affords Miss Mitchell as pretty a study of warped girlhood as she could wish. But Susan is happy at the castle. She worships Kathe and Stefan, and when Stefan's fiancee arrives on holiday she gladly extends her worship. Then, like a bolt from ithe blue, tragedy descends upon them, and Stefan and Susan, the two least able tc face calamity, take the brunt of it. Miss Mitchell's climax is both unpleasant and unconvincing. The pattern of the iitory is broken, and entertainment is made at the expense of tragedy. It would seem that the author has lost her way in an effort to achieve novelty. "Maidens Beware," by Mary Mitchell. (Heinemann.)

COUNTRY IDYLL STORY OF A CHARMING GIRL Mr. F. 0. Mann, a novelist with half a dozen fcookß to his credit, is not as well known as he deserves. His talent is never spectacular, but with quiet assurance and, subtle humour he portrays the familiar scene. His latest novel " Blow and Cleo " is attractively individual. Blow is a simple-hearted market gardener, and Clee as distractingly lovely and as much a child as Lady Hamilton. The story belongs more to Clee than to Blow. Blow Jives all his life in a secluded little valley tending his market garden while his mother tends him. Clee is one of a gipsy brood who live in a tumble-down shanty in the lane near Blow's farm; but Clee and Blow are friends from the minuto of meeting. Blow, dear simpleton, accepts the bounty of Clee's friendship as he does the sun and the rain, and when the time comes for her to earn her living she finds his dumbness a little disappointing. Clee is blessed with nymph-like loveliness that holds every masculine eye. She goes to service in London, and holds her little courts with the various tradespeople at the back door. She is generous to a fault. Her nature is such that she melts toward every man who likes her, but she finds it impossible to be faithful long. On the whole she has a lovely time. " Blow and Clee," by F. O. Mann. <Faber and Faber.)