RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22066, 23 September 1933, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

“The Flowering Thera.’’. By Margery Sharp. (Barker.) . "The .Laughing Chrlit." By Pearson Choate. (Alisha and Rotsrtson'; 8s 6d net.)- ' Hyde Side Up.’’ By Ben Travers. (Bodley Head.)' ■ v ■ • ■ ... .’’' Bouse of Consolation.”, By Jennifer True. Design-’’ By Eardley Beswlck. (Grayson.) ’ . .. • . “Dover-Ostend,” r By "Taffrail” (Hodder and. Stoughton.) . _ “-Murder at Prlnglehurst.’ By James Corbett- (Jenkins.) ■ “.The- Fanshaw . Case. By G. K. Cowan. (Jenkins.) . . - ■ _ . 'forever -Morning,” By F. D. Davison. (Angus -and;Robertson; 6s 6d net.) . _ “ Red Rivals;” By Jackson" Gregory. (Hodder. and Stoughton.) ■'““’ThaWtwo-Qun Kid.” .By Clem Yorke. (Wild Wesf.) -V “ Guardians of the Desert.” By Tom Gill, (Wild West:) . v ‘ . . .. (Rach ,7e ‘net; .unless otherwise, stated.) “TKe Flowering Thorn” • Lesley Frewen, ' a young and self-pos-sessed, woman-.of dridependent; : means, had, spent some: years i n London literary, and a rtietic iOciety■ of the more vrell-to-do sort. Life was a cocktail'which she drank regularly; living a . dance which. she danced d,ay and'night; philosophy wae. smart repartee between sophisticated people. After she .had. prevented a young man from shooting himself, fordove of her—a mission which was a trifle disappointingly, easy to entertained._an interesting explorer whom ; she .admired. _ He did not make; .love to her; and'while < slieVmight have been annoyed if' he hgd, _she was furioue. that he failed to tryi- Life had become monotonous, the cocktail had lost its taste. .Thus, in a moment of defiance, Lesley adopted a small, hoy. She did not learn to love him* Indeed, she resented him when his well-bein|r required rustication in the country. Sor did the cottage that she acquired come upto .the reader s expectations as. the abode every citydweller- longs for. Its furniture was depressing, the .curtains horrible. The local gentry were, to’.a- woipan of Lesley s diligent and .delicate: highbrow breeding, impossible. This is the basic material of “The Flowering Thorn.” One knows, of course, what'will-happen when Lesley has time for leisure/and reflection, far from the cityV;, madding rush. The story develops conventionally enough, from the moment when Lesley buys new curtains similar to those the draper has an his .own -home, to that when her .Proteges passion -for gardening-infects her a ho. But if Miss Sharp’s material is not. new. her handling of it is fresh and there is no cloying sentimentality. , Occasionally the* fastidious may detect the whirrings of machinery that suggest, the I ” a ; n “ f^f of a popular-hovels—occasionally -but pot often. “The Flowering Thorn. has .mot quite -as -incisive;, portraiture » Sharp’s Successful-, “ Fanfare For- im, Trumpets,” but it is a very .. pleasant, nicely-written idealisation of • hmnanitj which : should ehjoy even greater, success. ■■

“ The Laughing Christ ; , The Laughing Christ,”., in Jattgscarcely'•iriore than a short story,-ha, aSv prior to its publication m an Australian -edition, had the seal of approriaLset oh it -‘at Hotne/. It is a Story, simply--told, has its siguihcances for those who'seek them. .Jones who is. but. of Work, visits the ace Gallery and admires the .Laughing. Cavalier ” for•bis- infeGtjpus^good-humour — ? Laughter of. the- eyes, and j bo of the mind, .rather than merely animal, .physical laughter.” Pondering, on the. vitality of the personality in that; canvas, he ‘Searches for a portraitof. -the,-: laughing Christ. It is not- lobe found. -Always the .Man of Sorrows has been depicted_aa sorrowful, if not. suffering, and too often as possessing' " i. weak and washy feminine face, neither-hpnian nor-, divine. Jones was once a painter, and m his new-found in*. spirtthta ttb^erpi^yffhe Laughing Christ” Everything fitted into his conception except- the; eyes and face, The galleries -vouchsafed po enlightenment, a clergyman. whom he encountered at the National. could, not help-'him- much. He returned home,.- still pondering, still hop-ing,^-tbl tell- his wife of the search. &ho wanted’ to. help . him, and - what she sau helped him more' than she. knew-, though Jones will never paint his-masterpiece.

" Hyde Side tip. ' • ■ Few-’, writer s' of’.English. farce: of the sort that, hag become so .widely -known recently through the medium.of the talking .film attained the distinction ot Ben Travefs, who is acknowledged as the foremost -exppntiit: of' this ,of His latest .story, which was first seen as the film- “ Plunder;” has released in novel'form under the title of . Hyde Side Tjn,” and it is safe to say that those nho saw’ the picture will enjoy thc novel as well, ‘and those who- did not. w itness. the screen version’ will wish -they had .whenthe* read the book. The principal characi ter ‘is the rather .weak ~ silly ass a character Mr Travers presents to perfection. In . “ Hyde Side- ITp (fropi Whitcombc and Tombs) this is D Arcy Tuck.- * He meets a-, yqung woman, falls m love, and,; with becoming chn‘alrjv ; sets out.toregain for her her lost liiheritaiice. The aid of an old schoolfellow is called in and the admits to D Arey that he is a crook/ This* leads up to a qocei partnership in which a clever jewel thiet and the • world’s champion bungler are associated, in an undertaking fraught with peril for- both.,- The description of the way in which they eventually reach a solution' of a hazardous problem brings Hie-story to Its ending which, none -will deny, is ingenious.

A - Devonshire Tale ’ Simon Vodden must have been a throwback to seme. long-forgotten _ ancestry, since there was nothing in his'immediate parentage that could have- given him ms natural love - for the rare and beautiful. Even though his father was a coarse cattle dealer and his mother a simpering nonentity,. Simon possessed an instinctive appreciation, not"-unlike that of Quinney, for. eld furniture; and furnishings. When Brimacombes, a’, country house which had fallen on evil days, comes into his possession he passionately lavishes on it all’ the pent-up love of many years and it, in .turn,. repays him in measure when fortune is unkind/ as-it frequently is. The descriptions of Devon s countryside in this book, “ House of Consolation, are - written, with an evident, love of the subject, and the author his resisted the temptation ■to overload her dialogue with the vernacular. ■ . The Passing Show

.“'•Original:-Design.” (from Whi-teombe arid- Tombs) is more in the;nature of a review of a tableau of life than fiction in the general-acceptance of that term. Taking’ a large ■-manufacturing .’company in .What ‘ may be accepted -as a typical industrial ’distfict/ Alr Beswick presents an’/ intimate’picture • of this; professional, social-ifid home lives of its directors and employees. • Their ’ aspirations and pr’etensioni and even their vices all receive detailed /notice, but although the com-

mentary ,is often . faintly ironical no partisan .or class feeling obtrudes; itself. The canvas is : necessarily a restricted one. and. the story.may not. fulfil the noveladdict’s requirement of " leading somewhere,” but a retrospective analysis - will show that Within : its limits quite a large number of dramas and comedies have been played. . ; ‘

" Taffrail’s " Latest ' “Taffrail ” has forsaken naval encounters in his hew book, “ Dover-Osteud, for piracy in the-English, Channel, uic villain, Jerrv. Slade, who has planned, a “ hold-up.” of- a cross-Channel boat, kidnaps a naval officer as navigator, bolding as incentive to -his partnership in crime the.; safety of his fiancee. The incident of the actual piracy is described with ingenuity/ and the final duel at Cuckmere Haven, when, the modern , free-booters meet their- deserts, makes quite exciting reading. The .book' contains two elucidatory charts. The Author ’ .

Captain Henry Taprell Dorling, D. 5.0., R.N. retd;, is a son of Colonel Francis Dorling., He; received his training on H.M.S. Britannia, and has served with the navy in various- places, taking part in the relief of Peking in 1900, and the Great War. He has published under the pseudonym of “Taffrail” several works on naval subjects, including “Endless Story,” the History of the destroyers in wartime, and a number of works: of nc* tion, among them “Kerrell,”/’ Cypher K, and “ Pirates.” Captain. Dorling is visiting New Zealand in December of this year. He will arrive at Auckland on the Cornwall. about December T 9, and hopes to visit Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin With the vessel, when he may lecture under the-auspices, of the Navy League. .

" Murder at Pringlehurst ” Major Pritchard finds the body of George' Maxwell in one of ’ the Pringlehurst fields. He has been brutally murdered. Then Pritchard is found knifed in a similar fashion. Detective Barford, •who ds sent down to investigate, soon realises that the case ha 9 international complications, in which code letters, distinguishod men. and an' alluring erngma. Tessa Stancombe, are involved. . There is more than one dramatic moment m this competent “ thriller.” ** The Fanshiaw Case ” This is an old-fashioned novel in which a querulous woman of wealth makes life a misery for- her husband ; and becomes a prey to the’machinations of her niece, an unscrupulous baggage named Glenys Knox. Sylvia Stuart is companion Jo Mrs Farishaw and typist ..to her husband, Who is- a popular novelist. Through Glenys a chauffeur is engaged, and it: is- soon apparent tfi'a'b he is' rather more -than a Servant-to her! Sylvia is dismissed. Mrs 'F.anshaw is murdered, her .husband disappears; and ah- altogether mixed set of circumstances is. created; It is certain that Glenys knowi much, but in! tag end she is not arrested, because there is no evidence against her. The chauffeur, who is really Glenys’s husband, is, killed; Sylvia marries Dr . Gwynne,- and alt ends well. . ;, ’ ■

The Australian “ Bush ” - ‘ Air Davison's “ Forever Morning.” a romantic, tale- of ,-the.. Australian bush, is how published in a third edition, a tribute, jo :\its:satisfactory .quality.. Mr Davisons knowledge of Station life, in Australia is profound.; his perception is aciite, and this' book contains . a realistic, qualityliot often, present in novels, of outback life. “ Red Rivals ”,

To return home after an absence of lo years -to find his father murdered and another mail enjoying his patrimony is the experience of the hero of .this novel. If further aggravation were necessary.it is supplied to ; young Jerry Boyne in the shape of a knock-down blow from_the very-man who, is impersonating him. With such a parcel of incentives, it is- not - surprising that he sets himself tb’ re-adjust matters, and - lands forthwith into a whirl of advehfuresi It is only his lore for the beautiful -Beryl Rodman that saves him from losing his balance. Men Without Women Clem Yore’s “Two-Gun Kid*” is rather different from the average 'book -of -its type, at. least for the reason that' there is not a single woman among the numerous characters. '“Freckles,” the hero of the piece; does not rememberVa woman s care, but he knows-how to fight his way in the world. Haying'watched the bad men -kill off- his foster parent, he takes the -trail, battles against the desert, Indians: and' outlaws, and; is in at the finish wlien a grand climax is reached. Desert Adventure In “Guardians of ,the Desert” we follow the fortunes of young Lowell; whose father is at the head of an organisation which proposes to" , irrigate .the desert lands near the Alexiean border. ' Lowell sets out to frustrate the plots of his father’s right-hand man, who is working against the interests of the Lowells and the desert ranchers. The action is fast arid the climax is all that could be desired in Wild West fiction of this type. , ,Y. V. L. .