NEW ZEALAND'S NEWEST NOVELIST.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 12100, 20 July 1901, Page 2

NEW ZEALAND'S NEWEST NOVELIST.

"A THOUSAND IUTIES.'' (Frou Our Own' Correspondent.) LONDON'. ilum> 8. Now Zealand \m added another to the growing list <»f novelists born in that colony who have found publishers in London and circles of admiring readers. Miss Ellen Tay- '°. 1 f (>l, hind novel "A Thousand Pities will be brought out by Mr Fivhcr Umvin next week, and already advance copics have reached the leading papers, one M which describes it- a.« "a stirring novel by a new writer." I am indebted to I lie publisher's courtesy for one oMhest> early copies;, and 1 have read Miss Taylor's story with much pleasure and admiration. While there may bo pashero and there that bo!ray the unpractised hand, there is abundant evidence that the author poysesso.-; that inborn jjift which cannot be attained by practice or imparted by tuition. 1 supnose that the true novelist, like the poet, i< bom. and uol made. If so, Miss Tay'.or may bo cited as the latest instance. She writes because fhe has something tnisav, and must needs pay it. Manifestly she tin* a keen eye to the conditions which make a powerful plot, a vivid pen-picture, a strong situation. Her perceptive and descriptive faculties are good, and even in this first effort she shows muoh subtle appreciation of personal characteristics and skill in their depiction. Ilcr scone is wholly laid in New Zealand and in the Wellington Province, alternating between the city of Wellington and Hi© West Coast country north of the; Ohau Kiver. Her hero—at least; the "joune premier'— is a young newly-amvcd Englishman. la'n Dungarvon, around whose experiences the principal interest of the. story cling®. But the more powerful aud heroic character of its particular rugged and forceful type U Hector Mackenzie, the Scotch settlor whose part in the final tragedy is so sensanonul and startling. The heroine, Esther, is a very vivid and attractive personality, while the minor individualities, including bush poet, his elaborate wife, and the feminine dipsomaniac are cleverly drawn. It would not be fair to disclose .the plot, which readers will enjoy discovering for themselves. Among the most effective touches' of

"local colour" innv In- oiled iln- pieUirosquo fording of the swollen Dhau River ami the grim experiences of the hero and heroine in a bush fire. The slight anachronism of malein?; lan Dtingarvon arrive "by the s.s. (!iit!iic from Plymouth 23 years ago might advantageously he corrected m a future edition by siib.-tilnting some fictitious 11:11110 for that of so well-known a vessel as the Sliaw-Savill liner, which is still a long way from ly.niig tiie ago indicated. '['his, however, is a minor matter, and dues not. of course, iini.aii the interest of the stovy or the o\ol>lW>iv.>o of its treatment. 1 am not surer Ned to leavn that 011 the strength of this first wot'!;, tbe same publisher lak already aceomeil Miss Taylor's offer of a second novel from her pen, without even seeing it. That work she lias now •■yell m hand, and I understand it will lie finished and delivered before she leaves for Now Zealand- toward the end of this month.