Books and Writers

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24141, 6 December 1941, Page 16

Books and Writers

GRAND ADVENTURE ' / In "They (Jot Their Man" (Robert Hale), Mr. Philip H. Godsell is concerned with the heroic chronicles of the Korth-West Mounted Police, with •winch he is familiar front a long experience in the service of the Hudson's Bay Company. His opening chapters describe some/ of the work thrust upon that corps by the Yukon gold rush of the into • 'nineties, which Hooded both sides of tho Canadian-American border with desperadoes of every species. But even more are his accounts of how the reign of law was extended to embrace tlip Eskimos of the remotest Arctic —a process that demanded the highest qualities both of physical endurance and of moral force. It is a volume full of grand adventure, set forth with the full vigour and picturesqlioness that are its'due.

Belgium Vindicated. "Belgium, the Official Account of What Happened, 1939-40," contains a i plain and straightforward report on the 1 events that led up to the capitulation j of the Belgian Army at 4 a.m. on May 28, 1940. The narrative is fully sup- j ported bv documents and maps, anil ( entirely vindicates the King of the Bel- < gians, an exculpation reinforced by the ( publication recently of Lord (Port's des- , patches. (Belgian Ministry, London.) , Miss Ethel Mannin j "Bed Rose," by Ethel Mannin (Jar- i rolds), is a novel based on the turbu- 1 lent life of "Bed" Emma Goldman, the < anarchist, whom Miss Mannin knew t intimately. It is, of course, sympathetic, but nevertheless frank in its descriptions of Emma's indiscretions and \ foibles. Orthodox people will be slightly i shocked by the easy consciences of the anarchists. I ' 1

Welsh Mining Town The rise and fall of the small Welsh mining town of Wern as seen through the doors of a grocer's shop is admirably depicted by Mr. Rhys Davics in his fifth successful novel, "To-morrow to Fresh Woods" (Heinemann). Although the chief characters are Roderick, the grocer, and his steadfast wiie Hannah, who attend to the many and varied customers, much of the story centres round Penrv, their wayward, youngest son who. eventually breaks ground in a wider sphere and finds himself a position in London. Mr. Davies gives a very real impression of the lile ot a whole people, its prosperity and poverty, its laughter and tears. "Speak No Evil" The more fiendishly simple the crime, the more does M. G. Eberhart make the atmosphere crackle with eeriness. In "Speak No Evil" she makes .us fraught with worry and sympathy over the probable late of Klissabeth Da km. (Crime Club.) Complicated Mystery Mr. Rex Stout weaves a tangled web in "Red Threads," an oddly complicated mystery of a murdered millionaire who kept the body of his Cherokee wife entombed elaborately in a mausoleum in the garden. The story is full of vitality, with some capital dialogue. (Crime Club.) Stirring Story J). Iv. Blaster's latest work is a rousing adventure of more than a hundred years ago, when an attractive refugee from France was rescued by one of Lord Hood's captains. "The Sea Without a. Haven" is a stirring story with a historical background. (Heinema nn.) Mr. Thomas Mann "The Transposed Heads." by Thomas Mann (Seeker and Warburg), is a legend of India, told with all the be.auty and psychological insight one expects from Thomas Mann.

"It's not that I MIND being sent to work on * pig-farm'. , . It's ■ just so shaming when J've told everybody I was in the Secret • Service."