BOOK NOTICES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17039, 25 June 1917, Page 6

BOOK NOTICES

" Yotmg Blood," By Annie S. . &wan. London: Hodder and Stoughton. (Cloth, 5s 6d.)

The moral of this story is that a man should be judged on his own actions, conduct, principles, and character, without prejudioe of birth or circumstance. Jota Marchbanks is the eon of an unmarried mother, whose noble conduct has redeemed her fault. So long as he is contented to rp.ma.in in obscurity as a clerk no one interferes with him, but •when he aspires to enter 'the; society of bis "brtters," and oven falls in love with tho daughter of a local magnate/ things are changed, and he is practically hounded out of the place. Pie goes to London, and, after many discouragements, obtains a small billet in a. oorrroany trruiinjr east and west. He rises by his own industry and perseverance, and boravuse of his special gift for languages is sent to Calcutta, where lie has a number of thrilling adventures, ending in his vornantio rescue of his own father, who has been taken, prisoner by native robbers, and is, when discovered, apparently on the point of death. The title refers to John Marchbatifes's three love affairs, into two of which he is carried by the heat of " yotmg , blood," while tho third is tho result of more mature experience of life and its problems.

"Come Out of tho Kitohen." By Alien Duer Miller. London: Hodder and Stoughton. (Cloth, 3s 6d).

This is a full-of-smiles story, relating the serio-comio adventures of a wealthy New England bachelor, who, in order to enjoy the hunting offered in the * neighbourhood hires a dilapidated Southern mansion with the condition that the agent should find him four 'indoor servants. The owners of the mansion, who aro in reduced circumstances, have gone to Madeira in search, of health, and when no servants can be obtained, Uieir four children —two boys and two girls—decide to fill the roles themselves, and so earn a littlo money and save then: keep. The fun which follows ie fast and furious. The elder daughter is an admirable cook, with whom no fault can bo found, and is also a dazzling beauty. The elder boy makes a resourceful butler, whose manners are impeccable and powers of lying quite extraordinary; but the younger girl and boy are quite impossible, the boy especially being up to any kind of mischief. At the end of a week the new tenant has been forced to dismiss all his servants except the cook, with whom he has fallen hopelessly in love. This story would proviVin f- material for a good farce or picture show.

"In the Imago in the Sand." By E. F. Benson. / "Young April." By Egerton Castle. "The Red Sultan." By J. Maclaren Cobban. London: T. Nelson and Sons, (9d).

The publishers are exploiting an almost inexhaustible mine of literary wealth in their plans for offering to the public, at a modest price, fresh editions of popular novels and other works of the past. The three books named above are admirably representative of ;,ho class of fiction which Messrs Neleon and Sons are placing on the market in a steady stream that seems to bo little affected by the difficulties now confronting firms of publishers. Suitably bound, these works and the others comprised in their issue of remarkable value should command a ready sale.