NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1536, 7 August 1901, Page 27

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

**lll6 Warden of the Marches.” By Sydney C. Grier. Blackwood and Sons, London. Whitcom.be and Tombs, Ltd., Wellington.

It has passed into an axiom that what® ever comes out of Blackwood's is meritorious. Hence the style in which our author's _ latest novel is presented to the public is not to be regarded as being indicative of the merit of the work. If it is plainly but faithfully printed the story is one ..of political intrigue and of exciting incidents in Indian border warfare. Those who have only read for the first time sketches of In* dian frontier fighting will b© delighted with this novel, while those who have read of assaults, privations, and other harrowing events connected with such a campaign cannot fail to be entertained with it. But to crown all and captivate the reader as well as play havoc with the hearts of eligible young men there is a young lady in the tale whose smile has won celebrity in London so® ciety, and whose fascinations ..have brought woe and disappointment to some and seriously endangered the peace and security of our Indian possessions. “Th© Warden of the Marches” is light reading, although stocked with a seriess of . exciting events that hold the reader's attention to the end.

“The Life Story of Dinah Kellow.” By Christopher Hare- Ward, Lock and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington.

Dinah Kellow's life is not the only «tory this book contains, but all the narratives are without any trace of modem sensationalism. “The short and' simple annals of the poor” are narrated in all simplicity and truthfulness, and in these characteristics lie the chief merit of Mr Hare’s work. By realistic narrative the author awakens th© sympathy and interest of his readders effort is made te. force or create situations. Dinah Kellow’s life is admirably told. She was only a village girl, now betrayed and then deEQrfced, and left forever to bear the burden of her shame. Around this iff© the writer weaves a tale of rare interest and power. • There is the innocence of Dinah and the infamy of her professed lover set in apposition, and the unkindly treatment of th© villagers as a back ground. In all this there is interwoven yiiToli humour, which brightens the pic. tores tb© author so capably portrays. As plain records, as tales told with unvarnished truthfulness, these narratives will quicken the reader s sympathies if they do not stimulate his affection.

‘'Strang© Happenings.” ’By W. E. Norris, W. Clark Russell, Grant Alien and others. Methuen and Co., London. .Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

These “strange happenings” are not mere pictures of still-life. They are not tame glocrified anecdotes. They comprise a collection of th© best efforts of novel writers, who have compressed “three volumes” into twice as many pages. Each story is cut out of life, so to speak, and lives by itself, being a portrayal of a well defined experience- Mr Brander Matthew tells us that the short-story writer takes a worthy and interesting phase of life out of the medley of things and irradiates it with the Rontgen rays of the raconteur.” In the work before us that is what the writers of “Strange Happenings” have done; and while acme readers may enjov them over a pipe, many will: become so interested in these stories that their Lady Nicotine will b© neglected, and they will relegate all else to oblivion, so much will they be absorbed by the best efforts of Grant Allen, Beatrice O'Connor and Hamlin -Garland. For originality rand invention some of these stories surpass the larger novels of the authors. They are written in a style that is in keeping with the rapidity of the movement of the incidents and the characters depicted are drawn with few lines but with consummate skill. “Strange Happenings” will be widely read.

4 *The Helmet of Navarre.” By Bertha Runkle. Macmillan and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington. The situations of this powerful story *re intensely dramatic. The author is » new one, but any living writer would not feel ashamed to append, his, name

oribed a front rank among the best productions of Conan Doyle or Stanley Weyman. Indeed, in this story of Old France when intrigue and treachery passed for diplomacy, and when sword play was a mark of wit and murder no crime, the author presents a striking picture of moving incidents that follow each other with such rapidity that the reader is borne along upon the current of events to* the last page, and then marvels that he has come so suddenly to a full stop. It was this characteristic of Bertha Runkle’s story that attracted popular attention whil© it ran through the pages of “The Century” as a serial. Every chapter contained an exciting incident told in a manner that left the reader in wonder as to what would next befall the irrepressible Felix Broux or the heroic M. Etienne. With the sam© faithfulness that Sir Walter Scott manifested in the r ‘Heart of Midlothian” in the portrayal of Jeanie Deans, does Bertha Runkle display the character of Mile, de Montluc, the heroine, who braved all dangers for the man sh© loved. The plot of this novel would take too much space to narrate. Suffice it to say that the writer has by one book won a high place in the annals of fiction. The style is clear and intense, and “Th© Helmet of Navarre must be set down by all who read it as a spirited and stirring story.