LITERATURE.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20586, 8 December 1928, Page 4

LITERATURE.

NEW NOVELS. PLEASANT AND 'UNPLEASANT. . By Constant Reader. 1. PLEASANT, BY \V. J. LOCKE, W. J. Locke',: stories are. always p.jasant to read, even though his men and women are frankly impossible. His booKs excite the pleasant feeling of how nice it would be i£ real men and women dtd act just as he makes them out. It is a tribute to the ingenuity of this popular novelist that, whale for more than thirty years he has, turned out a book a year with unfailing regularity, he seldom, if ever, disappoints his readers, but preservesv a uniformly high standard. it is true he has written only one •' Beloved Vagabond,' but his latest story, Joshuas \ision" (John Lane: The Bodley Head), is a distinctly delightful tale. llr Locke might suitably have adopted as an alternative title " Prom Boots to Beauty, and Back Again to .Boots, since this would succinctly describe the career of his hero, Joshua .bendick. Joshua, born and brought up in • poor and squalid surroundings, • inherited from his father a flourishing boot .manufacturing business. Then came the -ivar, and Joshua made millions ty supplying the War Office with boots for the troops, and very, good boots they ■ v ?™- TJ ie story opens with Joshua- a middle-aged widower with one son and millions of money, conscious of undeveloped artistic longings and desires. Under the tuition of Robiua.Dale, a cultured woman who follows sculpture as a profession, Joshua educates his artistic sense to the point of the ambition of himself becoming a sculptor. Proximity begets affection, and "Joshua proposes, only to discover that Robina has a husband somewhere in Africa. Thrown back _upon his artistic longings, Joshua conceives the idea of a piece of sculpture lor which a beautiful young girl—Susan Keene by • name—shall be the model, btisan has been a participant in a oerrible village tragedy which has numbed her senses, but, _ as Joshua, Pygmalion-like, studies her m the attempt.to reproduce her lovely contours in marble; she, Galatearlike. comes to life, and the marble warms and glows into real rosv fleah. There dawns on Joshua the terrible truth that his son Sutton is in love with Susan, and the world crashes about him. The story closes with Susan off to Milan to tram her wonderful contralto voice, and Joshua, going back to the boot business to save it. from financial disaster. The practised novel reader will smell a sequel to this unfinished novel. ■ 2. UNPLEASANT, BY BRUCE MARSHALL.

In The Little In end” (Jarrolds).Mr Bruce Marshall evinces an intimate knowledge of the ancient- University of St. Andrew s, together with the ways of a Presbyteriani divinity student whom he namrti James ‘ Garrett. Garrett-was engaged to Erne, a clergyman’s- daughter, a - d while supplying ’ r for a Sunday ho was asked to stay at the manse at Blackmi*lr* That mght Effie came to his room* and the following day she waff killed in a motor .accident. Her death drove n rr ’J 3 ! 0 utl h e iief- •He abandoned all idea of becoming a minister, and-went t 0 J- a L ,s> and afterwards to Madrid, as publicity- , agent for a tooth. paste company.. He varied the work of writing amazing advertisements .bv engaging in amours with various French i.nd Spanish girls, and. women, the details of which-are set down, with much frankness. There is a_ vivid description of a bullfight, and much clever writing illustrating, the effect of the rites and ceremonies of the Catholic Church in Spain upon the-mind of a young, strlctly-brought-up Scotsman. A Spanish sweetheart found it difficult to understand why be, too, was not a Oatnoljc, and she came to the conclusion that . Scotishes were different from Spanishes.' Pepifa asked him: “A Presb?tePa?l What is that? ” and he replied; A person who can get drunk and make love to the ladies without requiring a priest about it”—statement which ’reveals the standpoint of ■ the author. It is a pity that so much talent should be wasted in unpleasant writing upon so unworthy a subject. 3.- PLEASANT. (BY JACKSON GREGORY. A. hero, a villain, a girl, and the gold these are/ the . essential ingredients - of a;Jackson Gregory novel, and “Redwood and Gold - (Hodder and. Stoughton) is compounded from the right recipe. The heroine, Gleo Hathaway, is a charming creature, who exerts so purifying an influence upon Jim, Glennister as to turn him from devious paths;and make a hero of bun. Jet Nor cross, with his dashing h-alfcaste daughter,. his contingent of Indian followers, supply . all the necessary villainy. The most picturesque figure in the story is old Dan Jennifer, who. for seventy, years has searched in vain for a lost gold mine, and at reveals the secret whilst walking in- his-slecp. ■ The-story-is -a - stirring one, .with . its tense moments and dramatic situations.

4.UNPLE A SANT, .BY VINA DELMAR. “An amazing first novel which is sweeping'America ” is the description heralding the publication of “Bad Girl” (Philip Allan), by Vina Delmar.' Tf this is the kind of thing which Miss Delmar has to offer, the hope may be expressed that it will also be her last book, since -the subject of which it treats is certainly not. suited for fiction, whilst anyone requiring a handbook on obstetrics would naturally apply-to a proper .medical authority. The story, if,, indeed, it can be called by the name, concerns the experiences of a couple of young New York _• people, who, making a chance acquaintance on’a river steamboat on the Hudson, contract a union'which'is subsequently ratified by matrimony. Both man and wife are workers, and'when a child ’ is in, prospect the-,, question of an illegal operation is • discussed between them. Wiser counsels at length prevail, the wife goes into a nursing home, and mother and'child pass safely through , the ordeal. The hook details .the almost daily symptoms of an expectant mother, together with the hopes and fears and worries and anxieties of a young husband, the whole constituting a most tiresome and sordid record. There is an absence of reticence which is little fhort of appalling, and it is not surprising to learn that the book has been " banned in Boston.” PLEASANT, BY LOUIS TRACY. The part which a deadly but mysterious gas may play in international relationships furnishes Mr Louis Tracy with the material for a novel bearing the enticing title “What Would You Have Done? ” (Hodder and Stoughton), While on a walking tour in Yorkshire. Captain Robert Mannenng stumbles on a murder mystery behind the drawn blinds of a farmhouse remote from any other dwelling. Almost at the 'same moment he makes the acquaintance of Miss Betty Eardacre and her little fox terrier, “Tags”’ The murdered man, known as Mr Hope, proves to he an eminent chemist. Sir William Hope Sandling, .who was known to be engaged in experiments for the production of marsh gas. Scenting international developments, Scotland Yard sent down two eminent C.I.D. men to . solve .the problem, and Betty and Captain Mannering find themselves enmeshed in an exciting detective adventure, with a romance to boot. It makes a rattling yarn with abundant excitement to hold the attention to the last page. 6,—UNPLEASANT. BY ALDOUS ' HUXLEY.

Why, is it that so many of the vounger aspirants in the field of fiction so speedily disappoint their most ardent admirers? This is eminently.the ease with Mr Aldous Huxley, whose previous novels, Those Barren Leaves.” “Antic Hay,” and “ Crome Yellow,” excited the liveliest anticipations, and whose latest effort; “ Point Counter Point” (Chatto and Windus) is a brilliantly clever story, which utterlv spoiled by the set of unpleasant men and women who assemble in its pages, unitedly voice the most cynical sentiment and evince thp utmost disregard for any semblance of conventional morality, Marjorie Carling had left her husband to live -with Walter Bidlake, and Carling refused to divorce her. After ''.'liaison of two years’ duration, and with a child in sight, Walter was neglecting Marjorie for Lucy Tantamount, daughter of Lady Edward Tantamount, who was a professional vampire where men were concerned. One of Lady Edward Tantamount’* admirers was John Bidlake, a fashionable artist, a man of 47, “ at the height of his powers and reputation as a painter; handsome, huge, exuberant, careless, a great laugher, a great worker, a great cater, drinker, and

taker of virginities.”' Philip Quarles, a novelist, and all intellect, bis wife Elinor, crushed by the weight-of unrequited affection, Denis Burlap and Beatrice Gilray, are among the numerous throng who slip in and out of the bounds ot lust and iove with the utmost celerity and with dire disregard, of consequences. Much nught be fdrgiyen Air Huxley for his brilliant gallery of portraits, each exquisitely etched in,. if only he had introduced' as foil at least one good man and one good woman. But his book must fall under the condemnation that no righteous people are found therein. 7.—PLEASANT* BY WARWICK DEEPING. “Old Pybus’’ (Cassell) should be as popular as Mr Warwick Deeping’s former story, Sorrell and'Son.” That is saying f. Sood deal. • The Venerable,”-who gives the'title to the book, is a finely-finished portrait, standing out in striking contrast to. Jus two sons, Conrad and Probyn. By a curious set of circumstances Old Pybus • has-become boots at a country inn, while in close proximity live in wealth and luxury, his sons, personifications of the nouveaux nchess. Old Pybus has a supreme contempt / for Conrad and Sir Probyn, as war profiteers, but his heart goes out . towards his grandson Lance, a lad with ambitions after literature. The interest centres around Lance’s career. His father desires him to enter the business and make money; his grandfather encourages his literary longings. For a while there is danger that Lance, ensnared by the lure of sex, will .make shipwreck over a fascinating, yet worthless girl, but he has timely disillusion in the discovery that she is also encouraging the attentions of his uncle Conrad. The girl in revenge destroys the manuscript of a completed novel of Lance’s, but the disaster only spurs him on to rewrite * i?™ it. better still* Ultimately father and son and grandson are all in amity,, and Lance finds his mate. The' story is a good one, well told, finely conceived, and making a strong and popular appeal. ,8. —UNPLEASANT, BY KATHERINE BRUSH. ' “Little Sins” (Cassell), by Katharine Brush, is a typical American story of a group of young men and women of to-day with more money!than sense, whose little minds are taken up with their little adornments and little' amusements. It is a picture of decadence,, all healthy sentiments and' emotions being honeycombed and destroyed by a superabundance of wealth and a plethora of indulgence. It is not a pretty picture, and tbe p.ity is ’tis true. SHORT STORY SERIES. < Messrs G. G. Harrap and Co., who, are adepts-in. anthology making have started 'a new series entitled " Short Stories of To-day and Yesterday.” The first volumes are devoted to short stories by Arnold Bennett, G. K. Chesterton, Barry Pain, W W. -Jacobs, Motley Roberts. Ueorgo Gissing, Arthur Morrison, Bret Harte, Guy.de. Maupassant, and Anthony Trollope. A separate volume is devoted to the work of each author and the volumes of handy pocket sire are daintily produced. An introductory biographical note prefaces each volume. The books serve to revive memories of many old favourites. What joy. for instance, to come across Jacob’s “Toll House,” one of .the . finest ghost storms ever penned: and Bret Harte’s “Iliad of Sandy Bar” and * Brown of Calaveras.” The selections are . judiciously made, and the volumes will make an irresistible appeal to the holiday-maker, desirous of sating his thirst in streams both old and .n*aw, NELSON’S REPRINTS. THE LATEST TITLES. 1. —AT EIGHTEENPENCE. 1 Nelson’s reprints are to be relied upon. iney include the.works of well-known and popular authors, the books are strongly bound, clearly printed, and of the right slze to slip easily into the pocket. 1 Three new. titles have just been added to the cighteenpenny,net series, viz.—” Am and Her Mother,- by o.'Douglas; “The'HOuse 2L“ y 5, ch ’ , Merrick; and The Candy Man,” by Ridgwell Cullum. These stones are so .well, known as 16 need no further commendation. , Thev havc proved their popularity over and over again. 2. AT TWO SHILLINGS. Eight additions have recently been made to tho already long list of the two shilling reprints. Of these Mr ; John Buchan contributes two titles, viz,—" The .Path of the 4 King and The Dancing Floor.” Mrs Henry dc, la Pasture, two—viz.. "The Tyrant, and ‘The Grey Knight”; old favourites are fessurected in Alar ion Crawfords Arethusa,” and Louis Vances The Black -Bag,” and the list LmnlP -o-ith Frank Saville’g -'The LvJ&i’ aml George-. E. Birmingham’s delightful extravaganza, “ The Simpkins 3. AT HALF A CROWN.

To the half crown nut series two titles have been added—viz., “ The Scarlet - by partes Rodda, a tal e of early days in Australia; and “A Baltic Mystery, by F. Sidney Webber,:an cseitr” S secret service during the urcat War.

NOVELS WORTH READING. THE A.B.A.N.Z. LIST. f ‘ / ” ' \ ' This list has- been compiled by a comCCffilftittfefe of selected judges Dominated by the Associated Booksellers of Australia and New Zealand. It is issued to serve as a guide to fiction of merit. GENERAL LITERATURE, “A Bookman’s Essays,” by J. Scott MacDonald. Myths amd Legends of the Polynesians,” by. Johannes C. Anderson. "The Art of Customer Finding,” bv Herbert N. Casson, " The Art of Flying,” by Captaiji Norman Macmillan. “ Better Salesmanship and Twelve Tips , on finance,” by Herbert N. Casson. The Myths of Greece and Rome,” by H. . A. Guerber. BOOKS OF LITERARY MERIT. “Destiny Bay,” by Dona Byrne. The Laslett Affair,” by “ The Gentleman with a Duster.” “ The Shadow of Guy Denver,” bv Stephen M'Kenna. .

BOOKS FOR POPULAR READING. “Tide of Empire,” by Peter B. Kyne. “The Foolish Virgin/’ by Kathleen Noms. ‘‘ The Lively Peggy/’ by Stanley, Weyman. Gyffprdof Weare,” by, Jeffery Farnol. “Again Sanders,” by Edgar Wallace. The Shadow of Guy Denver,” by Stephen M'Kenna “ Destiny Bay,” by Donn Byrne. “ Ladies in Hades,” by F. A. Kummer. “Nor Many;Waters,” by:Alec Waugh.