NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1717, 25 January 1905, Page 15

NEW BOOKS AND NEW EDITIONS

“The Divine Fire,” by Mary Sinclair. Archibald Constable and Co., London.

This is a long story, but it is not too long, for it is original in situation, keen in analysis and honest in treatment. A hint of the theme is given in the title. The authoress has moulded her hero in the guise of a poet, and a, modern one. (Think of this, ye legion who scribble doggerel for the weeklies and monthlies—a modem poet as a hero, instead of, shall we say, a nuisance !) Mary Sinclair’s poet is not a Vere do Vere. He is a cockney and sometimes drops his “h’s.” He is not infallible, which of course is but another Avay of saying he is human ; and it is here that the writer pleases most, for she lias not fallen into the too common error of the lady novelist and given all the virtues to one and the sins to another, labelling them respectively “hero” and ‘Villain.” This heropoet is in short- a man with brains, but of humble birth, and therefore lacking much, of the culture and all of the influence of “blue blood” in bringing his talents before the reading and thinking public. In the end he is successful. and secures the love of a gentlewoman AA'hom he meets through being sent—lie is the son of a bookseller —to catalogue an extensive private library. Before gaining the recognition of his undoubted genius, our hero- has a sordid experience in cheap lodginghouses. and these phases are- traced very ably and faithfully. The authoress’s fidelity to nature is exemplified in the telling of how her young poet, before he met his fate, is temporarily attracted by the somewhat vulgar attractions of a variety actress.

“The Tiger of Muscovy.” By Fred Whishaw. Longmans, Green and Co., London.

The alluring title of this book is its only conspicuous characteristic. Into a thinly-conceived plot the author has AVOA’en some colourless incidents concerning a Czar of blood-thirsty instincts, who ruled ever Russia Avith tyrannical display, and frequently manifested his displeasure- by casually disposing of unoffending minions with a thrust of his dubina. The story opens in England in the days of “Good Queen Bess.” Amy Romalyn, is the heroine, and her visit to Muscovy to wed the Tiger is fraught with dangers more or less absorbing—chiefly less. After residing for some months in the Imperial palace she escapes with Herbert Shadw-ell, Avho had vainly courted her affections up to that time, and returns to England, where, of course, she marries in the orthodox Avay. “In the Bishop’s Carriage.” By Miriam Michelson, Avith Illustrations by Harrison Fisher. Archibald Constable and Co., LtcL, London. The first chapter of this book originally appeared as a short story in “A,inslee’s Magazine*.” It is a collection of adventures of one Nance Olden—who combines the rather doubtful art of scientific and persistent thieving with a brilliant power of analysis—and a companion in crime, Tom Dorgan. Nance has a faculty for reciting her hazardous schemes, and her luck and resource in escaping from the long arm of the law, in a manner Ai'hich cannot fail to enlist the attention of the reader. Without exception, the stories are AA*ell told, and there is a pretty vein of humour running right through the book which blends pleasingly with the undoubted literary attainments of the author.