PRESENT-DAY GERMANY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22444, 13 June 1936, Page 4 (Supplement)

PRESENT-DAY GERMANY

STUDY OF FAMILY »LIFE The fiction reader finds a novel which supplies entertainment plus information irresistible. For this reason Miss Sally Carson's story of modern Germany, "Crooked Cross," received a ready welcome. She has followed up with a sequel, "The Prisoner," which, if not quite up to the standard of her first novel stands firmly on its own feet as a picture of life in present-day Germany. Through the daily life of the Ringers, a middle-class family, Miss Carson exposes the unrest and strain that divides even while it unites, family life. After years of unemployment the two Kluger boys find inspiration, and a measure of happiness in working for the Party. It seemed thai Hitler, the leader of their Fatherland, had given them work to do and something to hope for. The Kluger daughter was moro sceptical. She loved a Jewish medical student and in spite of her brother's protests (they were fully aware of the folly snd danger of her loyalty) she refused to give him up. The lovers plan to escapo across the frontier and both lose their lives. Their tragic story was told .in "Crooked Cross." In the sequel Miss Carson shows the family's reaction to this break in the domestic circle. Helmy, the elder brother, suffers hopeless disillusionment. Miss Carson's knowledge of German home life has the ring of authenticity and if "The Prisoner" lacks the inspiration of "Crooked Cross," it brings to a satisfactory close a story which urgently called for finality. /

"The Prisoner," by Sally Carson. (Hodder and Stouehton.)