A Literary Corner

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12283, 31 October 1925, Page 12

A Literary Corner

(Conducted by R.A.L.)

"A FATEFUL ESCAPADE”

Mystery and tragedy combining to aid tlxe course of true love through all the legendary vicissitudes make up the interest of this fine novel, remarkable for the good handling which the author, K. W. Savi, has displayed so often in the realm of fiction. A moneylender of the rapacious sort common in both fiction and real life ruins a nobleman' and gets possession of his ancestral house and broad acres. He is seized with remorse—an unusual exI>erieuce with this class in the worlds of men and hooks—and resolves on making reparation, as sometimes occurs to hardened sinners. Making a great plan for the purpose, he sends for the heir of the ruined nobleman with the intention to make him inherit the property of which his father has been robbed. It_4s a kind of restitution satisfactory to the conscience of polished ruffians of tfhis kind. When the young man arrives at the castle he recognises the robber raiilionaire’s wife as his long lost l:\-br love, once engaged to marry him, mysteriously lost to him, and never forgotten. The remembrance is shared by the lady, together with all the other details of tbeir unhappy love story. ; The situation is embarrassing. It is further complicated by a gruesome discovery by the unhappy wife in the vaults of the mansion. With this situation the author deals in a fashion bold and ingenious, producing a fine story.—(John Long.) BLACK MYSTERY The eternal triangle has played many tricks on mankind, but none we venture to believe unite, so extraordinary as what befell in “The Stroke of Eight.” A murder is committed, the hero is suspected, and circumstances are deadly. The only person who con establish an alibi is the wife if a friend with whom he had arranged to elope on the night of the murder. The lady, finding at the eleventh hour that she loves .her husband very much after all, refuses to sacrifice herself. But fortnnately for the young man another lady comes forward and sacrifices her good name for him. We doubt whether this person deserves his good fortune, but the story by E. Almaz Stout of his troubles is worth reading.—(John Long.) » THE PASSIONS RUN RIOT Those who have read “A Deal in Letters” and “The Man With the Vandyk Beard,” by Fred. M. White, will expect a plot ingeniously contrived, carried on with love, hatred,'and resolution inflexible, and they will not be disappointed. Divorce, disinheritance, allowances spurned for the sake of keeping a child, ordered by the courts to be given up, are everyday incidents in the hectic life led by the well-conceived but unhappily-treated characters in “The Fight -for the Child.” And the end i&— r well, it-does not very much matter what, for that belongs to tfie framework, which is only erected as a means of displaying the play of character in certain difficult situations.—(John Long.)

“A SHAGGY WORLD” We truth the thirteenth novel of <?. G. Chatterton will not suffer from the bad luck associated in the popular mind with the number of bis last book on bis list of publications. It deserves a better fate. A yonng novelist has the good fortune to publish a marvellous good seller, and finds himself celebrated and invited everywhere. In some part of this environment he meets and captures an heiress, only to he hurled

from the giddiest height of his fortunes by one of the sudden strokes of bad luck which abound in fiction as well as, if not more than, in real life. The ensuing struggle is the story for which we had hoped a better, fate than could he expected under the black shadow of number thirteen.—(John tong.)

POPULAR NOVELS FROM JOHN LONG, NO CHOICE.”—By Edmund D’Auvergne. Here is a detective story that will make you jump for joy. A young man about to commit suicide is laid hold of at a critical moment by a stranger who has just murejered a man whose body is lying not far off, and offered a thousand pounds to take, if necessary through untoward movements of the police, the whole responsibility of the- murder. M ith a readiness found only in that part of China where it is possible for condemned criminals to be substitutes lor execution, the young man agrees. No one troubles him, he makes a fortune with his thousand pounds, and tlyly falls in Ipve with a charming young lady. This lady, being charged with the murder of the man assassinated by the buyer of the substitute, that now prosperous person cotnes forward and gives himself up as the murderer. He sticks to his storv in the very shadow of the rope. But a detective has an inspiration, and by a very unexpected stratagem gets at the truth, and all is well. A most romantic, unlikely, delightful, readable romance. ‘THE SLIM OUTLINE.”—By Amy Baker, Light is thrown behind the scenes of a handsome millinery establishment run by a lady of good family who lias studied the art in Paris and attracts probtable attention in London. Slio mar--1 'c'l’i aml t * ,fcro n, '° misunderstandings , the usual order which are prevented by an unusual strain of thought from perpetrating the not unusual ending of the divorce court. In light, agreeable vein. '

WOMAN FOR WOMAN “Burnt Bridges” was the title of Temple Lane’s first novel, which was very successful. This one deserves as good treatment, if only for the inspiring theory, which is very prominent throughout the htlok, that “a woman will always stand by a woman,” no matter who or what may be involved. The sorrows of one woman provide the greater part of the story, and the intervention in a dramatic manner at almost the last moment brilliantly justifies the inspiration of the work. Con-, structive power and the art of story-' telling help the inspiring motive to its great success.—(John Long.) “BROKEN LIGHTS” In this novel by Helen Davies we reach the best motive of inspiration in the list of novels that have come into our hands during the last ten years. The motive is the fidelity of a young barrister to his wife after her tragic loss of reason and consequent confinement in an “institution.” Friends urge divorce, with the view to marriage with a very attractive and wellendowed lady. Backed as they are by family 1 reasons, the pleas of these friertds and relatives wax fast, and even furious, as generally happens when people are taking 6ides against the weak and defenceless. But the young husband is adamant, until one fine day the barking of the thoughtless, selfish, friendly pack is silenced by the appearance of a specialist, who in quick time most admirably cures the poor lady entirely. He just removes something out of her head that ought not to he there, and all is well. It is good to learn that the new doctor is rewarded according to poetical justice. He marries the handsome heiress and gets her love as well as her money. Here is, one of the few novels that preach duty and consideration and true affection. Read it.—(John Long.) GLIMPSE OF THE UNDERWORLD i * In his latest contribution, Harry R McDuffie gives a glimpse into the underworld of Melbourne. The principal characters in his work “Rooks and Crooks” are two undesirables orf the slums who live by their wits. They are low-class, thieves and “confidence trick” men, but/tlie bond of friendship is such that one offers his life to save his companion’t. Hie story is interesting, and the amusing situations which surround these idle characters have a distinct attraction. (N.S.W. Bookstall Company, Sydney.) AN OLD WORLD STORY -To those who have a penchant for reading Old World stories, replete with laoe ruffles, snuffboxes, arid pistols, “Jonah,” a novel by George Deston, can with confidence be recpmriiended. The story .is woven round young people who were born and. reared in an American colony. Jonah, the liero, has no knowledge of his parents, and he. with easy going Ned Standsbury, dainty Mistress Peggy Pembroke, and haughty Miss Gabrielle Mercier are sent to London as being exhibits of the great work in the interests of.humanity that the American colonies are accomplishing. Each is entrusted with a mission, which each endeavours to fulfil in his or her own particular way. The quests are such that they lead the seekers into many strange situations, and the manner in which they extricate themselves is interesting Jonah eventually succeeds ■ incidentally in finding out his parentage, and so the . quartette return to America after having found fame and fortune in England.—(Hoclder and Stoughton.).

“MRS ALADDIN.”—By H. M. Egbert. As the title implies, the story is diverting, humorous, even bizarre. The hero finds a second lamp of Aladdin in an Assyrian tomb,' and gets much wonderful benefit out of it; gets liis wish in fact whenever he expresses the same, even in the most distant fashion. In due course a lady genie, on the stuff so to speak, of the wonderful Aladdin. Lamp Company, sees the hero, and makes love to him hotly. Unfortunately, Mrs Aladdin objects violently to tlie whole business.' She has been perfectly ready to accept all the fruits of, the wonderful Lamp 11., but she draws the line at the lady genie, and poor Aladdin has a thin time. But the reader is sure to enjoy his troubles and the methods. of reducing them to reason—as much reason ns is possible under the laughter-moving circumstances. “NAOMI THE MODERN.”—By Cecil Bullivapt. A beautiful heiress, the crash of a great fortune, the resort of the heiress to the stage for a living, her awakening- to the responsibilities of life, and the appearance of a lover faithfully superior to crashes of fortune—there you have the materials of this novel. The simple theme is worked out in the pleasant . capable fashion this author has made his own. “THE VENUS GIRL,”- by Leslie Beresford, The author, known as “Pan” by many readers of good sellers, has here given us a fantastic story, grouped round a girl of great beauty, charm, and attraction. This is the Venus Girl who. disturbs the atmosphere considerably, and becomes the glittering part of a formidable triangle of which the component parts are filled by tho hero and his intended. The denouement is ingenious. “THE- WOOLLEN MONKEY,” by George Goodcliild. A mysterious burglar baffles detection in spite of the warning lie gives liis victims by the dispatch to their address of a woollen monkey. An amateur, as is usual in this class of fiction, solves the puzzle after a series of incidents very thrilling.