RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22356, 1 September 1934, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

“ Ono* a Wilderness." By Arthur Pound. (C»pa.)

"October.” By Irene Rathbona. (Dent.) " Blafcop’s Move." By Margaret Pascoe. (Hutchinson.) " Gay Highway." By Mary Chase. (Mills and Bow.)

" Mystery of the Red-Haired Valet" By G, Davison. (Jenkins.) " Death In the Stalls." By J. R. Wllmot. (Iron Nicholson.) " Murder Most" By Garstln-Begble. (Jenkins.)

" M'Lean Plays a Hand." By George Goodflhlld. (Ward, Loch.r "Four Trees Ranch." By E. Murray Campbell. (Wright and Brown.) (Bach la net)

Saga of Self-love Hi® public has no doubt long ago discovered that there is nothing Mr Arthur ‘ Pound likes more than a genealogical tree and the facilities it furnishes for scattering a story over as much of a century as possible. He has an unusually complicated and full ; table to work on in “ Once a Wilderness," and out of the fecundity of old John Mark and his descendants he has compiled a family ■ history of intimate detail and generous variety, smacking for the most part of the soil and husbandry, but at the same time _ fringing at its circumference the gasoline, ‘‘horseless buggy" era of the : early twentieth century in America, when the automobile industry was just beginning to fascinate and at the same time engulf the youth of the United States. Mark “Section,” the wide expanse \of .Michigan State which the Marks have .{‘tilled and erased for nearly 100 years, is . presented by Mr Pound a* the family battle ground where the Marks, old and .{young, male and female (saving always the black sheep of each generation), pursue the family destiny, regardless of the great outfeide world, a community in itself, with its own loyalties, its own humanity, and its own religion—and only as much religion as is advantageous to itself and not too restrictive. , One : of the most human things about these {Marks is the amicable way in which . conscience and character compound matsi ters to the benefit of all of them. The physical and far from gigantic labours of { mind, persisted in over a few decades, bring the Mark saga to a triumphant ; conclusion, and Mark "Section" to great fertility, agriculturally and humanly. Mr {Pound has an easy, lucid style which is , far from unattractive, although never really striking.. He hag, few tropes or figures, still less any startling thoughts or. quaint innovations of expression, but there is no pause, no meagrenese, no in- ■ animateness about the flow of his story. By the number, the liveliness, and the ” facilty of his transitions he,keeps up an appearance of vivacity and novel effect for which too many writers of his kind . have to depend on singularity of style and peculiarity of matter. It is true that his language is more copious than select, and that frequently (Americanwise) two or three words perform the office of one, but he makes his point, which, briefly put, is that all people are passionate in what concerns themselves and indifferent to what they are not interested in. Afteif all there is nothing truer than Resistless passion sways us to the mood. Of what it likes or loaths. 1 ■And Mr Pound’s Mark family is a perfect example of it. Always ready to decide and to condemn where they themselves were concerned, they never allowed the heats, importunities, hastes, or passions of others to influence their judgment against one of their own number, and in stressing this so strongly as to , suggest that in the final analysis selflove, in the .individual, the family, or the nation is the mainspring of life, Mr Pound has; lifted an ordinary family saga Von to the extraordinary plane of convincing philosophy.

The Author Arthur Pound i« a native of Michigan, and as a youth watched the growth of Detroit, Pontiac, and Flint in the pioneering days of the United States motor ear industry. He attended/ the State University, then worked as, reporter, later as editor, on various papers, his interest becoming centred in the social implications which he saw evolving in the State. His first book, “ The Iron Man in Industry,” published 13 years ago, called public attention to “ the problems inherent in mass production, mass leisure, and mass unemployment,” Other works are "The Turning Wheel,” "Native Stock,” "The Penns of Pennsylvania.” “ October "

“Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of thy life” was the exhortation of Ecclesiastes, and ever since people of letters and romantics have.been trying to show how difficult it is. Miss Irene Rathbone does it very effectively in her new book, “October,” and, makes a genuine effort to solve an age-old problem. Of course she fails, because actually the problem is inSbluble,'but by taking two sets of people and discussing .them in a sort of conjunctive 'fashion, sne. provides; an interesting commentary' on the whole miserable business. In the first place, she presents Rose and Martin on the inside of marriage looking enviously out, and secondly Jenny and Mark on the outside looking wistfully in. It ia all'very unconventional, and consequently , very human, but her courage fails her in the end and Miss Rathbone succumbe to the conventional.' Rose and Martin stay inside and Jenny and Mark contrive to squeeze in aleo. The book, however, is excellent reading, gaining much of its merit from the sense of the average necessities of existence which the author displays. She compels her characters to confess that happiness exists only in marriage and the regular conduct of life, and most of her readers will agree with her because, as Anatole France once said, “generally speaking, happiness is something which we have not experienced.

A Manage de Convenance Generally speaking, most people find the management of their own lives a full-time job, but there is nevertheless a well-known class of person who seeks to mould the lives of others—usually with unhappy results. Chloe Hardacre, the lively twin sister of Althea, places her affections in what her aunt considers to be a most_ unsuitable quarter when she falls in love with Edward Holden, the curate of a Mayfair church. Lady Falk, the aunt, uses every device known to the art of the matchmaker to thwart this love affair and promote a marriage in which Chloe s beauty and talents would find full scope, as the wife of Jimmy Singleton, who has already made some advancement m the public life of the country. But by the intervention of Fate, Chloe is forced to spend a night with the man she really lovea, and this episode affords a hasi s for the strange denouement which the final chapter reveals. Margaret. Pascoe tells her story of contemporary life in London lightly and brightly, and from beginning to end “Bishop's Move" is rich in entertainment.

** Gay Highway ** • This is a pleasant first novel, concerned with the adventures of a girl in an American small town when she is attracted by Ihe glamour surrounding Hollywood and its personalities. Deborah is scarcely appreciated by her. family, and when a kinema magnate, visiting the town, singles her out for his special attention, she agrees to join him for a holiday on a ranch. On her way thither, alone, she makes the acquaintance of a company of “ show-folk,” and later, the ranch visit proving beyond her capacity for enjoyment, she returns to these people. She adopts a waif, and eventually goes back to her home completely reconciled to a hum-drum existence as the wife of her constant suitor, a doctor. >

Tchekov Again Tn “The Mystery of the Red-haired Valet” the dreaded Tchekov, also known as “The Killer,” makes his reappearance in, if anything, a more sinister atmosphere than that which surrounded him in “ The Man with the Twisted Face.” This time, after he has escaped from the Tower of Dondon by substituting his dead servant Tor himself, > he is enabled through his diabolical genius to perfect a machine which, while leaving conscious thought in his victims, deprives them of memory and subordinates their will entirely to his own. He is still, of course, as auda-

cious as ever, and his organising ability is still a model of evil perfection. His schemes in the present book are undoubtedly fantastic, but considerations of probability are not likely with moat readers to outweigh the excitement of the chase.

” Death in the Stalls ’’ A series of jewel thefts of an unusually daring type is keping Scotland xard very busy. _ Detective M'Neeve is detailed to investigate, but is making no headway. By accident he drops into a theatre one evening and becomes inordinately excited by the first act. ' During the second he is found dead in his seat—poisoned by a drug not often r: .a. The plot now takes its real course. Another murder, and an attempt at murder, occur, and because M'Neeve was the first victim it is assumed that the jewel thieves must be responsible. In the end, however, and quite accidentally, the authorities discover the real clue to the mystery, and a solution is propounded which has every element of surprise for the reader.

Trunk Mystery In “Murder Mask” the author again produces that personally untidy but grammatically precise member of the detective staff of Scotland Yard who derives a certain pleasure in having been christened Jeremiah Washington Urbill. In "Sudden Death at Scotland Yard" Urbill undoubtedly jumped into the position of being one of the most picturesque figures in contemporary crime fiction, and his lugubrious whimsicalities are even more effective in the present book. His sententious declamations may be very provocative to his colleagues, but for the reader they provide capital entertainment. “ Murder Mask ” possesses, however, more than mere humour, and in parts is exceedingly grim. A mean sneakthief, finding a railway luggage ticket, claims the article which it 'represents, only to find that that is a trunk containing the body of a man who has obviously been murdered, and it falls to the-Jot of Urbill to see that the law receives its eye'" for an eye. Chief Inspector M'Leem In the book “M'Lean Plays a Hand” we are given a series of incidents—each complete in itself—in which M'Lean investigates the activities of various henchmen and women of "K,” an international spy. Again and again he prevents valuable documents from reaching their ultimate destination, and at the end he cornea face to face with “K” himself in a “ last round up.” The book is interesting despite its strong tendency to unreality.

“ Four Tree* Ranch « Amy Foster is sent to an uncle and aunf who own a ranch away out beyond everywhere. Amy has imbibed quixotic ideas about right and wrong, and would dearly love to be a missionary. Unfortunately, _ her mental power is decidedly poor, while.her talking strength is well above the average. Thus when Calvin Meeks comes claiming a share in “ Four Trees" because he had married a Mrs Lowery, whose husband had helped old Uncle Gid Platt and his wife, Miracle, Amy persuades Uncle Gid to accept Calvin for an honest man. Fortunately, Aunt Miracle has strong sense, and the coming of Brad Villiers puts things right again. V. V. L.