BOOKS OF THE DAY: REVIEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25048, 11 November 1944, Page 10

BOOKS OF THE DAY: REVIEWS IN BRIEF

Capture at Hongkong, life in a Japanese concentration camp and escape through enemy-occupied territory in the Far East are the main subjects of Mrs Gwen Priestwood's book, "Through iffapanese Barbed Wire." As one who actually experienced the humiliation and hunger of a prison camp, Mrs Priesthood was, when she finally reached the authorities in Chungking, fully qualified to report on the appalling conditions under which she and her fellowprisoners of war had to exist. Her escape from the camp with Anthony Bathurst, a British police officer, their nerve-racking experiences as they risked death or re-capture during the 24 days' journey to China's capital and the wonderful kindness and help of the friendly Chinese —all this and more is vividly recounted. (Harrap.) Building a House "The Honeywood Settlement," by. H. B. Creswell, carries on the story of the "Honeywood File," which told how Spinlove, an architect, employed Grigblay, a builder, on a house for Sir Leslie Brash. By the same method of letters interspersed with informed commentary, it describes the various crises of sflspect drains, defective paintwork and imperfect bricks, as a result of ■which the first year of what Sir Leslie might have called "domiciliary inhabitation" was noisily filled. For architects

it will be an invaluable guide to practice. for laymen proposing to build, an admirable collection of warnings, and for the ordinary reader a delightful fantasia of humour and character. (Faber.) Gunners on Malta Gun Buster, who in vivid fiction has given us various aspects of the war as it is. turns in "Grand Barrage" to the epic resistance of Malta. Ho tells here of the stern trials of the anti-aircraft guncrews who stood fast during those terrible months. The whole technique of A.A. work is described, from the brain of it in the underground calm of gun operations room to t! < fierce activity, uproar and peril of the gun-sites above, [t is all in a setting of busy life, with the men of the garrison and the people of Malta as real as Gun Buster knows how to make them. (Hodder and Stoughton.) Biography of Sun Yat-sen "Strange Vigour," by Bernard Martin. is a book that will be widely read. As the architect of modern China, Sun Yat-sen is a historical figure of the first importance; yet in the 19 years since his death no authoritative biography has been published, at least in English. Partly this is due to lack of authentic information. Sun Yat-sen was a revolutionary and —as Mr Martin himself says—"moved about the world secretly, covering his tracks and destroying the

very materials which are the foundation of biography." Partly it is due to the fact that those who write about his work are apt to. take sides for or against him, and so lose dbjectivity. Mr Martin writes confessedly as an admirer, but he is careful to put the biographer before the partisan. Future historians will have reason to bless his name for this careful and deeply interesting work. (Heinemann.) This is War A wide and clear view of the impact of war on all sorts and conditions of people is given in the second issue of "Bugle Blast." These essays and poems by young men and women in the Services have a welcome sincerity and a broad range. They catch the grim circumstance of the years in the quiet English village, the French vineyard, the bombed London hospital, the surrounded outpost in France, the crammed third class of an Indian train. They give us the reactions of the old soldier, the new recruit, and the woman driver, of survivors from a torpedoed ship adrift on a raft and near death, and of the man who is facing his first court martial. The bitterness and brntalisation that war breeds have their place, but humour ;;nd courage redress the balance. (Allen and Unwin.) Painting the Great Kings, presidents, politicians, business magnates, soldiers and hundreds of other famous people have been painted by Mr Frank Salisbury, whose autobiography, "Portrait and Pageant," is a most readable book. Of outstanding interest are Mr Salisbury's accounts of the sittings given by members of the Royal Family and his visits to France during the last war. (Murray.) Stabilisation Professor H. Belshaw's "Stabilisation Policy in New Zealand" is a reprint from the March number of the International Labour Review (Montreal). The reprint forms a useful and welldocumented survey of the subject.