BOOK NOTICES

New Zealand Times, Volume LXXI, Issue 4467, 21 September 1901, Page 1 (Supplement)

BOOK NOTICES

NEW BOOKS AND N EW EDITIONS

“A Thousand Pities.” By Ellen Taylor. T. Fisher Unwin, London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.

Before the Manawatu Railway was built, and when coaches ran between Wellington and Wanganui by way of Ngahauranga, Paikakariki and Foxton, the traveller who took passage by one of Cobb and Co.’s vehicles might count on having some adventures before his journey was completed. He did not need to fear robbery under arms, of the kind of which _ there has been a slight recrudescence in Australia of late. The danger which he had to bo prepared for was an accident at one of the numerous rivers t° he crossed by the coach on its way along the sandy beach. The hero of “A Thousand Pities,” a book over . which an interesting hour may be spent, first se e s his affinity, the heroine, at the ' mouth of the Ohau river. Ha is travelling by coach. There is a flood in the river, and a considerable sea is running. The heroine pilots the coach across the ford, and does it in such an intrepid manner that., she wins the admiration alike of the colonial driver and his new-chum passenger. The latter is bound for an estate near Foxton. There, as a cadet, he learns to do a variety of things, and at the same time falls in love with the heroine, whom he supposes to be one of the owner’s daughters. The young lady. t when he declares his mind, refuses him. Her reason for doing so, and the circumstances which clear the way for a happy union, it is the purpose of the hook to get forth. Incidentally, two eccentric characters are introduced. One of these is a harmless bush-falling rhymswr, who has a habit of embodying everyday occurrences in innocuous verse. Residents of one portion of the West Coast will not require to be told, that this character has an original. The remark may perhaps he ventured that the novelist who fixes the action of a story in _ a sparsely _ populated country district in New Zealand cannot be too careful in the employment of names, whether of persons, establishments, or places. “A Thousand Pities,” whilst in places not as convincing as it might he, is a story that will give satisfaction to a numerous class of readers. Those living in the old land will gain from its pages some idea of the conditions under which pioneering is done.

"Lords of the North." By A. 0. Lant. W. Heinemann, ■ London. Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington. Our authoress has given lis » capital picture of life connected with pioneer settlements in Canada, and a-vivid idea of the development .and expansion of the Dominion in the early portions of last century. In more recent years quite a number of Ameri6an authors have come to the front and challenged in popularity the best efforts of English writers. Agnes C. Laut by her "Lords of the North" has detracted from the general high merit of these new American authors. Indeed, she has

given further evidence of America’s fresh and remarkable literary activity. It would not he true to American life

were pathos and humour, action and adventure, not commingled in a work delineating; the character of a composite people. The book is well written.-

‘(The Whirligig.” By Mayne Lindsay. Ward, Lock and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington.

Mr Lindsay’s latest is a brisk and lively story. The reader ;is carried rapidly along a labyrinth of plot and counterplot with scarcely a pause to take notes and consider. The author’s hero, at first indolent : and unambitious, is suddenly called to deal with State ; affairs/and he rises to the occasion, displays energy and ability* and achieves in the end great things. The heroine, Frances Bothfield, is as rare creation, but “love at first sight” has no great occasion to establish it. The stoij is speedy in its action, cleverly written and admirably illustrated. ,

“The Seven Houses.” ’ By . Hamilton Drummond. Ward, Lock and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington.

As its title indicates, this novel deals with the seven houses of life as portrayed by tbs old astrologers in their horosoopio delineations. It is not a dry book on astronomy.- It is replete with thrilling adventure, told in a manner that cannot fail to hold the attention of the reader. It treats of the good old days when might was right and the sword was the power. There is much fighting and adventure to narrate in the telling of the life story, of a young woman named Denise de Lhoeao. of the famous and noble house of Guienne., Besides the fighting, there are deeds of daring, stratagems and cunning tricks, all of which tend to excite the reader’s interest in the career of the heroine and her friends. The book is graphically written, and as - a whole it must be pronounced to be a cleverly told and fascinating story.

“The History of Godfrey King.” By W. Oarlton Dawe- Ward, Lock and Co., London. S. and W. Mackay, Wellington.

This is the story of a boy who, haring lost his mother in childhood, is very badly treated by a and her son. Then on the death -of his father he is robbed altogether of . his' inheritance by their unscrupulous : machinations. On one occasion he is goaded to

insubordination by their harsh treatment of him, and runs away with a friend. Jack Maddeson, who is also not very comfortable at home. They are caught in the act of stealing apples from an orchard. Jack escapes, and eventually makes his way t° Australia, where he makes a fortune, and also meefs a clerk who worked for his friend Godfrey’s father’s lawyer in the old days. He befriends this clerk, and discovers from him that the old man was made to sign the wrong will, and also that his second wife was already married, and therefore a bigamist. But Godfrey had to suffer many years before his friend discovered him and was able to help him into his own. He succeeded in running away again, after having severely handled one of his tormentors, and this time sadly missed his friend Jack. He joined the stage-not being able to pick un anything more lucrative—and acted the Ghost to Hamlet for a time. Gradually he got on better, until he demanded more wages, when he was thrown out altogether. He was very far down in his luck when he managed to save a wealthy lady from a carriage accident, who in her gratitude made him her secretary. . He did very well, and- pleased his mistress for a time with his fine presence and handsome face. She would also have married him, but he preferred the sister of his old friend, who had pitied him in the days of his misery. Soon after the display of this preference the hero was again thrown upon the world, and having in the meantime married, was in a worse position than before. Things went from had to worse with Godfrey King until Jack returns from Australia a millionaire. Jack set Godfrey and his wife up again, and proved how villainously the hero had been done out of his inheritance. A well-written and interesting story, not unlike in some respects “The Prisoner of Zenda,” ends in Godfrey’s being settled in his own home and his tormentors overthrown.