SHARP CONTRAST IN LIVES

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22879, 6 November 1937, Page 4 (Supplement)

SHARP CONTRAST IN LIVES

The Soul o£ a Jud&e

By G.H.

BEHOLD the Judge" could not be called a good novel, but it is a very readable book. In one swoop Mr. John Brophy disposes of all pretentions to be an important novelist, though it is possible iic will achieve great popularity. His theme is a well-worn one —the introduction of a girl of humble station into a family of much higher rank than her own. Like all other writers who have worked on the same lines, Mr. Brophy exaggerates and overdraws his characters. His heroine, a shop-girl in love with the son of the house, has all the virtues and reads Meredith and C. E. Montague. The boy's mother, trying to show the girl up by asking her to tea, straightway apologises because there will bo less to 6at than the girl is used to at tea in her own home, especially apologises because there will be no tinned salmon. Bather a crude touch, that. Much nearer life aro the scenes in the store where the girl works. As Mrs. Judge would probably say in her " cattj' " manner, this is probably the sphere that Mr. Brophy knows more about. Here it is that the troublo brews which leads on to a murder, but not beforo the Judge, wandering about the grounds and woods of his new country home, has pondered and reflected at unusual length. One suspects that Mr. Brophv regards the Judge's philosophic rumblings as an important part of the book, but as they are not very profound and not very subtle, they lend themselves admirably to skipping. It was the Judge's jirst murder trial, and he found great difficulty in making un his mind about his summing up, although it was clear to tlio lay mind that on such flimsy evidence no jury would hang a man. One would think that with so many faults the book would not be worth reading. Strange to say it grips the interest all the while, for Mr. Brophy can tell a tale well. Moreover he has as his highlight a scene at which the disillusioned will scoff, but which is the real thing—a very beautiful love scene between a boy and a girl. " Behold the Judge," by John Brophy. (Collins.)