MINOR NOVELS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 18465, 28 January 1922, Page 2

MINOR NOVELS.

A VARIETY OF STORIES. Just as much minor poetry is published, so there are a great number of stories which can only be classed as minor novels. Not altogether devoid of merit and in many oases making capital light reading, they are only for the moment, and possess little if any permanence. Still, they are the class of books in great demand. at this season of the year, and the following list may be useful. “Bry of Hag Fell,” by Richard Chater (London: Mills and Boon), is a story of the English peasant type, with Yorkshire as its special scene. Mr Chater has caught the correct atmosphere amid whioh to weave a tragic story, Bordering on melodrama. Bry Horne, of Hag Fell Farm, is the sole survivor of five sons who went to the war, and he returned to farming life greatly altered. by his experiences at the front. To Yorkshire in search of health come Mr Proctor and his daughter Charlotte, and Bry is immediately attracted to the girl, but the attraction on both sides is purely physical. Mr Procter, aghast at Charlbttc s‘ engagement to Bry . summons his older daughter Frances to his assistance, and Bry is drawn to Frances by her intellectuality. At this point the story loses its naturalness. and the reader is asked to believe that Bry murders Charlotte with as little compunction ns ho killed the Germans in the war, because she stood in tihe way of his union with Frances. 'Die book is powerful in parte, and the depiction of life on the Yorkshire moors is exceedingly well done. “The Peddler.” by Henry G. Rowland (New York: Harper Bros. Melbourne: Melville and Mullen), it a good story, badly

managed. TJie f Kirklands represent one of the feat disappearing old families of America..,The sons are hard drinkers and the daughter Diana is a handsome, headstrong miss.. A {group of notorious European ‘‘crooks,” part of a world-re-nowned criminal gang, descend on the little community in which the Kirklands, reside and- threaten Diana, and her,, brothers, with sinister menace. To the rescue comes Emery .damp, the- peddler—in reajity; John Henry' Doreey, acting inspector of the American secret police, who, oamoufleging behind an absurd peddler’s travelling trocrk. loaded-up .with all.-mannei of merchandise, is intent upon capturing the ’ "crooks” redhanded. The subsequent .adventures, although absurdly , improbable, j are exciting enough, and “the peddler,” although the crooks evade him, succeeds in capturing Diana. “The Peddler 7 ’; wfll serve to : while away a railway joumay, but it will do little more, • . “The Circle of Gold,” by Holloway Horn. (London end. Auckland: Wv Collins, Sons, end Co.; Dunedin:.. Whitoonibe and Tombs.), is a well-told story, of an nnsuooeesfnl attempt cn the. part of an unscrupulous war ■ profiteer to establish himself , and his family in society by dint of b» iH-gotten gains. • During the war of .1870-71 Jacob Ward sold to the, French and German Governments boots which were made of anything but leather, and amassed a large fortune, but left' the' unfortunate' soldiers -with blooding feet. The-fortune proves ,to be a curse, both to Ward himadf, and 'bis two sons, and it was not until the granddaughter. Joyce, had got rid of r the last remnants of the dissipating fortune that she fo that way completed “ The Circle of Gold.” • ' ' ' :

. ITie ‘Red Masquerade,” by - Louis- Joseph Vance (London: Hodder and S tough ton), described as a “now ‘Lone Wolf* story,” is a long . way below those ... delightful mystery stories “The Band _ Box” and '‘"Hie Brass Bowl,” ; so far as interest 'and • excitement are concerned. There are plot and cormter- ; plot, intrigue and murder, spying and counter-spying in plenty, the interest centreing around a, beautiful Russian princess and her blackguardly husband, Prince-Victor, described as a ‘ “by-blow of a .Russian grand duko and a Manchu princess—half Russian, half Chinese, all de-cil” The book is full , of incident,, but the inherent interest is eoarooly ■ sufficient! to carry : the -■ reader through the manifest, improbabilities of the .story and over its ■ evident impossibilities, seeing that the scene is set in Ragland and for the most part in London. “Star Dust,” by/ Fannie® Hurst ] (New York: Harper Bros. Melbourne: Melville and'Muller) is described as' “The Stpry of an American girl”; but Lillyßccker, the heroine,. might have, beCn English, or Irish, or of any nationality. .Mr George Moore has exploited the theme in "Evelyn Innea” Lilly, a girl with a voice, makes a. mistaken marriage and, running away from her husband, goes to New York and dries her fortune as a vaudeville artist. Just as success seems assured the birth of a daughter, upsets all her plans. Lilly, determines to bring up her daughter Zoe in complete ignorance of all that life has meant to her, and from this point the. story develops along these lines. _ Whether Lilly pursued the right course is left ,to the reader to determine. ' v ;, v '' '