“THE CRIME AT VANDERLYNDEN’S”

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12406, 27 March 1926, Page 12

“THE CRIME AT VANDERLYNDEN’S”

To what hooks will people turn, thirty years from now, when they would read about the war of 1914-13 f There will bo—there are now—histories in profusion, but books of impressions, of ( description- of the fighting, as it is remembered by the average New Zealand soldier—suqh books cannot be written in the future. Of the first-hand, accounts of the fighting in /France, Philip Gibbs’s “Realities of War” is probably the best, though his reflections and conclusions are not so valuable as his def scriptions:' Another book, written with more deliberation than Gibbs could afford, and With a literary skill that he could not command, is “Disenchantment,,'*' by CJ. E. Montague. Its author was the official source of information ' to; the war correspondents in France, he was ah acute observer of character, and had what is commonly called a “philosophical turn of-mind.” His bcok is unforgettable. ,

o,n a much smaller canvas than' Montague’s, a now writer,, R. H- Mottram, presents his record of the' war. His first book was “The Spanish Farm,’’ which was, published with a laudatory preface Iby John Galsworthy; his second was “Sixty-four, Ninety-four,” and his latest “The' Crime at Vanderlynden’s.” Each book niajr be said to have only one' character. ; In the first it is Madeleine, a French peasant girl in the thick of, the fighting; in the second• it is SkCne, a volunteer officer; and in the third itiis Dormer, another civilian soldier, concerned with petty administration. 'Mr Mottram writes a vigorous, lucid prose, and his insight' into character and capacity for intimate description ' are sUch that the reader takes his place alongside Madeleine and Skene and 'Dormer, and accompanies them through the war. And if the. impression he receives of the War differs from tho impression hammered into him by propaganda during the star, was not the same difference perceived by the soldier himself? With ,“Tbe Crime , at Vanderlynden’s,” Mr Mottram completes his chronicle 1 of the war years. One wonders what he will do now. His ability is such that he may not rest on his laurels. (Chatto and Windus, London; our copy from Whitcombe and Tombs, Wellington.)