"An Englishman's Home"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23809, 9 November 1940, Page 4 (Supplement)

"An Englishman's Home"

M"; BUNTING is an average elderly Englishman who is up against it. He was about to retire, but was suddenly thrown out of his safe job. His two sons who were also in safe jobs threw them up and tried their luck at something more risky. What was to happen to the Englishman's home? Mr. Robert Greenwood's novel tells you what happens: it is written with naturalness, humour, and feeling. It shows what Mr. Bunting can do when he is threatened on every side by things unfamiliar to him, things frightening and terrible. Mr. Bunting trembles inside himself, hut a streak of British obstinacy begins to show in his character and rapidly grows until we see a Mr. Bunting transformed, a Mr. Bunting who refuses to be defeated.

"Mr. Bunting," by Robert Greenwood. (Dent.)

Good Stories Galore "Tho Jewelled Trail" is a thoroughly extraordinary book. Mr. Louis Kornitzer, for the third time, has ransacked for stories an experience of geins and their trade which stretches from Saigon to New York. His two hundred odd pages are a breathless chain of .anecdotes, any one of which would make a splendid short story. This is a grand book for the Botorua express. The reader will be absorbed until Putaruru. After that tho Mamaku bush deserves a look. "The Jewelled Trail," by Louis Kornitzer. (Geoffrc.v Bles.) H• E. Bates Thirty of Mr. H. E. Bates' short stories are re-published as "Country Tales," and since they represent his development,during nearly 10 years the collection lias a special interest. Some of the early ones, though not negligible, are facile, as the author admits in a preface: and it is amusing to seo that even this accomplished writer has had to outgrow or to control the sentimentality that lies in wait for unwary writers. "Country Tales." by 11. E. Bates. (Cape.) F. E. Mills Young "So long lie had steeped himself in the error that, since love brings unhappiness. it was wisdom to avoid loving. that he had come to believe this avoidance practicable. Xow he realised the futility of the belief. No philosophy has a lock that will bar the door against love." This is the theme of

"The Bitter Philosopher." by F. E. 31 iI Is Voting, and it tells how Angus discovered just in time that his philosophy was indeed "bitter." This story cannot fail to give pleasure to the discriminating reader of fiction. "The Bitter Philosopher," by P. E. Mills Young. (Hodder and Stoughton.) Into the Unknown A fast-moving story crowded with excitement, romance and adventure, lies behind the title, "Unbroken Barriers," a novel by Kathleen Lindsay. On the day Anthony Stapleton, Professor Maguire and Archie Cameron are preparing to set off on a llight from Tibet to a mysterious new planet they find Virginia Barlow, a rich American girl, in their 'plane hiding from the police. It is reluctantly agreed to take her with them, and the series of remarkable happenings on the journey makes entertaining if rather unreal reading. "Unbroken Barriers." by Kathleen Lindsay. (Herbert Jenkins.) Romance in a Storm "Wild Bird," by Elizabeth Vernon, is a charming romance. Ginnie is caught in a storm, her horse lamed, and on calling at a bouse for refuge is refused assistance by a callous young woman. When the door is shut she falls down in exhaustion, and is discovered by the hero and taken inside, when the callous young woman departs in high dudgeon. Romance, of course, follows, but there are further ordeals tor Ginnie before happiness ensues. "Wild Bird," by Elizabeth Vernon. (Hodder and Stoughton.)