A BUNDLE OF NOVELS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1687, 29 June 1904, Page 27

A BUNDLE OF NOVELS.

“Anna, the Adventuress.” By E. Phillips Oppenheini. Ward, Lock and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington, , - Mr Oppenheim is nothing if not sensational. His latest is not only sensational, but it is complicated. Our author is never dull, and although he rnfay exact too much from our credulity !he is always interesting. He has undoubtedly done better work than “Anna”; still this adventuress will Enliven a dull evening or make a tedious’ journey agreeable. Anna and her sister, Annabel Pellissier, are orphan daughters of a colonel. He left them little and they proceed to Paris to study art. Annabel is bohemian, and abandoning art goes upon the music hall stage. She has a disagreeable experience, "which makes it desirable for her to quit the country. In her distress she is assisted by a middle-aged English baronet and. candidate for Parliament, who happens to be on a .'visit to Paris. The baronet is a bachelor, and is smitten by the beauty of the young lady, who, for reasons of her own, tells him that she is Anna; and not Annabel. Pellissier. The real Anna is working hard at her art; but . somehow, though she has the artistic temperament, her works lacks creative power, and her master, though he is in love with her, frankly tells her that she liad better give it up. When Annabel informs her that she has been masquerading in her name, and is ■ going to live in London as Anna, Anna consents to the interchange of names; and when she in her turn returns to London, where her sister, living demurely, is about to marry the baronet Anna goes on to the English music-hall stage, and becomes a brilliant. star, everybody supposing that she is her sister, the ‘Alcide’ who lias been the popular favourite at Paris. We need not tell any more of the plot of .Mr Oppenheiin’s story. Many will call rfor it because it bears his name and not be disappointed.

tC A Change of Face.” By Tlios. Cobb. Methuen and 00., London. Whit-

■combe and Tombs. Wellington

This is perhaps the mpst serious book Mr Cobb has written. It deals with the story of Evangeline Maitland. She is engaged to one Wilmot Norgate and her wedding day is fixed. Evangeline, who is beautiful in face and figure, suffers an attack of facial paralysis. This destroys her beauty, and the somewhat volatile Norgate cools towards the lady in her affliction and finally breaks off the engagement. Then Evangeline concludes that she is not loved fer herself, but only for her beauty. But when men fall in love with beautiful women, and the women lose that quality for which they are loved then it is surely natural that a passion for a quality that does not exist should subside, It is unreasonable to expect men to continue to love women for beauty when they cease to bo beautiful. Norgate was evidently expected to marry. Evangeline out of sympathy but that would also have been unsatisfactory. The first essential to happiness in the married state is good health in both parties. Had Norgate and Evangeline been married and the calamity overtaken her as Wilmoths wife then the case would have been different; but Norgate himself is not apart from this a desirable character; but in Evangeline’s father we have a straightforward honest _ type, and the young doctor, who is kindness to the heroine, is an admirable man. The book is meritorious, but philosophy is not Mr Cobb’s forte.

“The Celebrity at Home." By Violet Hunt. T. Fisher Unwin, London. J. W. Davidson, Wellington. * In this story the authoress makes a precocious daughter of a popular author tell the private life of her father. We would not say that authors are the most agreeable men in the world. Literary men do not possess the best dispositions, but then in all walks of life there are morose, sceptical, irritable types of men, who affect to sneer politely at everything and everybody. This celebrity of the literary sort is a humbug, and to honest men all humbugs are only to be thought of with contempt. But tins make-believe of a literary man was not only pretentious, he was insincere. We cannot accept him as typical, he is merely singular.' Feared at home on account of his irritability he is petted in society; but he is a sham and suffers continuously from “swelled head.” Nevertheless, Miss Hunt has given us a smart unflagging story. There are, however, evidences that it has not been - carefully sub-edited, and some apt

descriptions might have been omitted. They never would have been missed, and the book as a novel would not have been impaired.

“The Never Never Land.” By Wilson Barrett. Methuen and Co., London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

During Mr Wilson Barrett’s stay in Wellington last year, we had an opportunity of hearing the author-actor read the opening chapters of his new Australian romance. That country suggested to him a novel of the melodramatic type, and he lias worked it up and out with all that eloquence and art with which he is gifted. There are several strong and sensational selections in the book which make it easily adaptable to the stage, and Mr Barrett has already scored a phenomenal success in its dramatic production in Great Britain.. The opening chapters are laid in Australia. Jacob Landalo, a ne’er-do-well .of good family is fatally injured by a failing tree. He had previously persuaded his friend Ja.ck Mowbray, who was very like him in personal appearance, to go home to his ancestral estate, and pass himself off to his mother and sister as their long-absent son and brother: Mowbray does so, and is warmly welcomed by the ladies. Sybil Landale is a beautiful girl, and the way in which she caresses and kisses her supposed brother is very embarrassing to him, for lie is an •honourable man, and only undertook this difficult task at the earnest request of his friend, who „ was ashamed, after the degraded life in Australia, to present himself before his mother and sister. We need not further outline the narrative. There is some fine characterdrawing in the book; and as it is by their speech that they are known, the work is admirably suited for dr jn'Aic portrayal. Smudgee a typical Australian girl of “push” society is cleverly depicted. The book is certainly worth reading.

“Entrapped.” By Alice M. Diehl. John Long, London. Gordon and

Gotch, Wellington

Hero we have another sensational story of domestic intrigue, bigamy and mysterious murder- There is an innocent girl, and several wicked people. The authoress wields a facile pen. Her narrative is cleverly told, and the gambling scenes at Monte Carlo are ably described. There is little new in the plot, and we meet . the same characters in nearly every volume of sensational fiction, bub there is a freshness of narrative that must be acknowledged.

“Helen Adair." By Louis Becke. Fisher Unwin London. Whit-

combe and Tombs,' Wellington

This story, which is largely based on fact, de-scribes the careei' of a young Irish girl whose father was transported to Botany Bay for being concerned in the publication of a “seditious” newspaper. Helen Adair, so that she may follow her father to the Antipodes, and share, or at least alleviate, his mis fortunes under the dreaded “Convict System," passes counterfeit coin in Dublin, is tried and convicted under an assumed name, and is sent out in a transport. Her adventures in Australia form an exciting romance.

'The Mis-Rule of Three.” By Florence Warden. T. Fisher Unwin, London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

This is the story of three young men, living together in London lodgings, of the ideals of womanhood which they have formed, and of the singular fashion in which each falls a victim to the charms of a woman in all respects the opposite to his ideal. The story takes the reader from London to the most romantic region of the Channel • Islands, and is connected with a mystery which surrounds the owner of one of these islands.

“The Ordeal of Sara.” By Alan St. Aubyn. George Bell and Sons, London. Gordon and Gotch, Wellington.

Sara is a vicar’s daughter. She goes to Newnham with the object of fitting herself to earn her own living. Sara is winsome and attracts the attention of a girl friend’s sweetheart. Lectures lose their interest and love triumphs. Loyalty to her friend induoes lier to engage herself to a Fellow of St. Cuthbert’s. His infatuation for Sara, however, is inexplicable to his friends. Of a highly strung nervous temperament he frequently has recourse to stimulants in hours of exhaustion. He takes Sara on the river at night, while somewhat excited, and tries to drown her and commit suicide. They do not die together, and for Sara at least the story ends happily.

'Tour Red Roses.” By Sara Tytler. John [Long, London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

By girls not yet out or their teens Miss Tytier’s novel will be well . read. It deals with the careers of four young girls fresh from the country to London. They endeavour to maintain themselves, but the main line in the story is the tangled skein of a love affair of one of them. Finally all the girls marry, which is rather a rare circumstance in these days when spinsters are numerous.. and .when bachelors are

not possessed of too much chivalry and self sacrifice.

“The Man from Downing Street.” By William Le Queux. Bell and Sons. Loudon. Gordon and Gotch, Wellington.

The opening chapter creates a mystery that requires the -whole of the succeeding pages to effectually elucidate. The novel abounds in adventures and mysteries. The hero is the narrator. He belongs to the secret service of the British Government, and the relations of England, France, and Italy are made to fit the purposes of the novel. Mystery follows upon mystery from the first chapter. These are all interwoven, and it is not until the end that the truth is revealed to the reader. Mr Le Queux has not written anything better than “The Man from Downing Street.”