"Testament"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23181, 29 October 1938, Page 4 (Supplement)

"Testament"

By G.H.

Ctrri ESTAMENT," by B. C. I Hutchinson, is a brilliant -*• and compelling book, as well as being one of the outstanding novels of the year. To read it is to experience something of the spiritual tumult of the Russian Revolution, and because "Testament" is a book that deals with reality and speaks always with desperate sincerity, it reaches in an unaccountable way under the reader's skin. The story opens with a Russian retreat from the Austrian*, and proceeds at slow pac".\ taking two friendly Rusnian officers through the Revolution. It is painful reading, for the characters caught up bv the uncertainty of life, and the insignificance of the individua! in revolutionary Russia, become intenselv aware of the value of their individuality. They reveal thoir deepest feelings and under the compulsion of tlio passion and drama of their .story, the reader is easily carried away.

R. C. Hutchinson s Outstanding Novel

Count Scheffler and Alexci Qtrnveskov, two Russian officers, become friends while prisoners of war. Their friendship becomes inextricably bound up with the forces of the Revolution. Count Sehclfler, after weary mouths in secret prisons, ends before a firing squad; hi it he stands for truth. He was killed because lie refused in spite of consistent persecution, in spite of desjwrate illness, to lie other than his essential self. His steady refusal to betray his ideals brought disaster on his friends, for his enemies tried to break him by implicating them. The greater part 01 the 700 pages of the book is concerned with the machinations of petty officials to have Count Scheffler shot or to force him to publicly denounce his beliefs. This detail is never tedious. It is rich and exciting. and curiously personal. 'I here are few novels that convey more vividly the physical self of Russia. "Testament" is undoubtedly a tour de force, a book which dwarls ninety per cent of the novels published this year. "Testament," by R. C. Hutchinson. (C':issell.)