RECOMMENDED.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20906, 21 December 1929, Page 4

RECOMMENDED.

novels worth reading,

;Th* • Uncertain Trumpet.** By A. S. M. 'Hutefatefloo. London: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd. {6* net.) *■ Sketch of a Sinner.'* By Frink Swlnnerton. London: Hutchinson and Co., Ltd. (6s net.)

44 Millennium," By Temple Thurston. Loncon: Cassell and Co., Ltd. (Gs net.) The Indiscretions of Lin .Mang,” •By jtodney Gilbert. Londo*; John Murray.' (Os HM.)

Clayton Calthrop. LonHoddcr and Stoughton, Ltd. (6s net.) Small Dark Man.'* By Maur!ce«Walsh. Edinburgh; W. and R. Chambers, Lid. (6s net.)

Either one likes Jlr A. S. JI. Hutchini Bon s novels very much, or one does not ihke' them at all. It would be difficult, I therefore,, to write of his latest, ’’The I uncertain Trumpet,” without betraying * bias one way or tho other. ’’The Uncertain Trumpet" has reached this-office iafter, not, as.generally happens, before, the English newspapers and periodicals 'containing notices ot the book have arrived, and therefore; the reviewer has had the of learning what the !critics-at Home think of it. Generally j speaking, they have given Mr Hutchinson a very thorough roasting, Jlr St. John I Ervina performing the operation at great length (and rather ungrammatically), and The Times Literary Supplement, writing softly of “emotionally contorted mouthings and “ the urgency of bis appeal to elementary sentiment.” There are, how*ver%' a few critics- who have enjoyed reading “ The Uncertain Trumpet,” and evep though they realise it may be a best seller,’’ do not hesitate to say so; and it is with these that we find ourself sided.

-Mr Hutchinson has not spent the years 1 since "If-Winter Comes” made him a . fortune in polishing up his, to quote, Jlr ' St.. John Ervine. -lamentable etyle”;— | i t is as lamentable as ever, although fid I has dropped the disconcerting habit of (concluding his sentences with a line of 'asterisks; nor has he spent his time in j working out a story that will carry the reader straight along without let or hindrance from first to last. “The Uncertain Trumpet ” ’ has no particular hero |or heroine,, or. for that matter, villain, it we except Miss Pasture and her terrible ,-hate. and every character is overdrawn until ha is a caricature of a man, I with a name like Flogg-Walloper, or I Father Absolute to complete the classifij cation. ■ Thus .Dawn Chase is verily a 'Child of the misty, elusive hours, and the | tnan she marries. Pelham Heritage, is I one who must place supreme value on his own possessions, and- those that may come to him, the Rev. Donald Quest is a searcher, and Jlr Glumday’s days are all glum. Mr Hutchinson's cinvas is broad and long, and it is scattered with quaint figures J larger than life, ■ and twice as natural, so that there is a tremendous amount of. quiet amusement and.pathos to be extracted from the disjointed picture. We see Dawn robbed of the pleasures of English country life which l she had hoped !to regain on marrying an . Englishman; ! Quest struggling and- doubting when he ; comes full, of courage to Ashton Parva, ! only to have all his prospects shattered job the death of his - patron; Banjo Heritage . in. turn conquer : sg . and being [ conquered by his ’ore of drink, and his | love .of Dawn; and ' Miss Pasture earnestly, vindictively, and fiercely hat--1 ing. There are . currents and crossI currents, plots and counter-plots through- ■ out the book, and the numerous conveiletons with,which it concludes clear up all 'the troubles ih a -delightfully complete fashion. -

' ‘Mr Hutchinson certainly places a (train on his reader’s'sentimentality, and admittedly he writes of almost impossible people, .but “The Uncertain Trumpet-” is',' in spite of all the faults we can find on close examination, a very enjoyable- novel indeed. '

'■‘.lf Mr .Hutchinson‘a qtyle .makes reading hard at times, Mr Frank Swinnerton’s " Sketch of a Sinner ’’ is ■written in the lest o£ prose and the story proceeds quietly but dramatically. Lydia Rowe, the sinner, is a discontented young woman with the capacity to sin were she not restrained by the gentleness and patient helplessness of her elderly, hnsband Sebastian, a dealer in antiques. Perhaps Lydia is losing her own good opinion or herself when the story opens—at least, she is ready’to accept a change, which'offers alimmediately as two men come into her,life. Ambrose, the poet, is a,fey, likeable enough creature who never assumes any importance,. but Gerard is another matter. Intensely egotistical, trading on his forceful personality, he sets but to ■win-Lydia’s affection, and it is nothing to him that two lives may be ruined in' the winning. With the death of Ambrose, Lydia finds herself well along the way to sl new ■ looseness in her moral character, and. Sebastian’s influence is waning- as •she 'realises that she has never quite deceived him—that he knows her weaknesses* and, unhappily, is forced to accept them. "If Sebastian had been a- little less funny,” Lydia _ always thought, ’she would not have desired fresh adventures, but occasionally she herself glimpsed the truth that she was a loose woman by nature, if not in fact. Gerard sets himself diplomatically to the task «f taking Lydia from her home, and to fur their'his plans befriends her old parents; .'Mr and Mrs Cottar, two of the most' interesting people in the, book. At Mat Lydia casts the die, and, Sebastian considered no longer, takes the first step towards an irrevocable change. At the very instant when she meets her lover lie is struck down before her eyes, and she,returns to Sebastian, now paralysed end bedridden, to continue her life, never knowing, it may be assumed, what this stricken man realises of her intentions. Lydia’s character is. not sketched by Mr Swirinerton. it is firmly drawn, but there remains an indefiniteness of outline which the.reader must black in for himself. She is no ordinary- sinner, her humour saving her from blind indiscretion, and she does love - Sebastian in a way,, even when she leaves him. Ambrose would have been a better companion for her than Gerard, for she was'accustomed to lame ducks, but Gerards uncompromising directness flattered'her and bis'advances found her in *'receptive frame of mind. “ Sketch of a Sinner ” is a clever novel, and Mr Swinnerton has employed his gifts without stmt in writing of an unsympathetic person,

♦' ♦ ♦ Mr Temple Thurston's “-Millennium” is • a Bt,| dy of a woman, or rather of a girl s development to- womanhood from-a tender This is a carefiiily-writteu, very Sincere book which, because of its mngth and, occasionally, its rather tedious narration of what the heroine thinks, not what she does, cannot be hurriedly read or,lightly skipped through. Anne Pendrcd grew up with her brother Charles, twoyears her junior, in a country vicarage. Her father,, the vicar, her Aunt Agnes, Jus. sister. . and her mother Lucy, a shadowy, thwarted figure, being her supervisors, Prom a' bathing incident shelearned shame, and from her mother's relations with Mr Cantrell, and her own ; experience with the man to whom she was (engaged, she developed a fear of sex. Her .father is so difficult to understand, with, his self-righteous posturings and his ability .to deceive himself, that it is not easy to sympathise with • him, nor -yet to condemn him--so thoroughly as Mr Temple Thurston ends in doing. Charles i».' a typical yo_ung_ gentleman of the sore . without .'‘inhibitions,” and therefore rather uninteresting, and. Tom Jennings, who _at last rid* Anne of her morbid fancies, is just a little too good to be true, even if he is a serious-minded work-ing-man, and in-love. A'nnc leaves the vicarage when she realises that her father has decided to marry again, after Lucy has been found drowned, and escapes from a dreary • period as companion to Lady Amering by going to London. Here the day’s toil and the night’s rest are even drearier, but Anne is unable to free her- . self from the strange fears that possess her mind and body. She is young, good- ; looking, intelligent, but she cannot make’ I the contacts that others would find so easy, and in her loneliness she drifts into | religion of the roaring, emotional kind, j Thoughts of the great and glorious Mil : lennium fill her with vague hopes and | fears, driving her into the company ot a (band of sickly-minded saints in Eversholt street, who are the last companions euch ! a girl should have. Tom Jennings, as lias ; been said, saves her from herself in time, end we cap imagine Anne becoming even- ’ dually quite a jolly, normal wife and mother. A book which deals with sex fears and such modern complaints requires the most, sympathetic, discerning treatment, and Mr Temple Thurston ha, made of “Millennium ’’ a skilful study m Ibis realm.

Mr Rodney Gilbert, whose authorship has in . the past been devoted to the discussion of such abstruse - subjects as the Chinese in their relation to the foreigner, and treaty lights, makes his bow ns a novelist in “ The Indiscretions of Lin Jiang.” The book is fiction, not history—so Mr Gilbert gives the reader his solemn assurance—yet undoubtedly he must be conversant with the wiles and rogueries of the war Lords and old Chinese diplomats who have helped to their country each a problem for the Nationalist Government, and although no such person as Lih Jiang does exist, there, is reason for believing that his prototype is alive even at tho present day. Liu Jiang’s first experience was to see his fellow villagers slaughtered by raiders, his father robbed,, his "mother slain, and throughout the years that followed ne put to good account his knowledge of rape, pillage, and sudden death. A hard life he had, but exciting and dangerous. Ho performed with a troupe of artists, joined a bandit group, sold his strongwilled sister into a notorious profession,, murdered thpse'he disliked or feared, and found life with a Geisha girl pleasant but cramping. The old villain, when the reader makes his acquaintance, has sought refuge in a monastery because, for the first time, he has failed to turn his coat quickly enough, but as ha writes his memoirs for the guidance of his children he shows neither remorse nor bitterness, and wc are heartily relieved when we learn that he is to be allowed to : live out his life with honour which he does not-deserve.., Jlr Gilbert wrote this book, he explains,: during an "ocean" voyage in the Tropics,.but there is never any'trace of the ennui that might therefore, be expected. The. narrative is lengthy, and the author is inclined to stress too much the subtle.,evasions of old Lin Jiang’s diction; but-the,book is, nevertheless,, an interesting one.

From an intimate, happily .unprejudiced knowjedge of-Victorianism and after, Jlr Dion Calthrop writes of the world of art, and-of- those who live in it. Hia charming book will appeal strongly to those who are interested, in. painting, and particularly in the years before Pane became an English-speaking city, aind quantity of paint was leas respected that) quality of execution. “Artist” is written simply : and searchingly. Hilary Quaile, the son .of .. wealthy parents, has sketched and .painted ever since he can remember, and js go to Julian’s* in Pans, to- study art seriously. The author writes reminiscently of that Paris, of the strange, foreign street cries, tbs different smells- from those in England, the dashing, adventurous cabs, the people hurrying to cafes, the men with whitetop hats, and we are really more interested in his picture than in the pictures of . Hilary, meritorious though these are From Paris Hilary returns to England to - a Chelsea studio; and here his artistic career continues with fair success. His father’s death leaves him without any private resources, but Fleet street fitids his-sketchea to’its liking, and Ililary prospers. Shortly after his marilage the w«r commences, and" Hilary secs it through, his-wife dying-soon after he comes back.. The man is broken, bowed with grief, but the artist remains in him, and Hilary survives the shock to do his_ best work. The novel ends as smoothly as it .began, and .we have the impression that .this is life as it is lived by someone we have known, but never quite, understood. “Artist” is a pleasant portrait of a pleasant, human person.

. The Small Dark Man" was published simultaneously in Australia and England, 'and has already been reviewed in these columns. Messrs W. and R. Chambers are the publishers of-the English edition, a copy of which has just reached us. Maurice Walsh’s delightful -tale of .Hugh borbes, the Irishman, who goes to Scotland m search of a red-haired wife, and ot what he finds there, will be sure to find man}' friends in New' Zealand, for it is amusing, sincere, and reveals a writer full of joy m his subject. V. V. L.