RECENT FICTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23631, 15 October 1938, Page 4

RECENT FICTION

" The House of Templemore." By Pat Lawlor (A. H. and A. W. Reed). '■ William and Dorothy.” By Helen Ashton (Collins). „ •’ The Prisoner’s Friend.” By George Goodchild and Bechhofer Roberts (Jarrolds). , , “ Sampan Smith.” By Shore Leith (Thornton Butterworth). ■ •'The Return of Sanders of the River. By Francis Gerard (Rich and Cowan). "A Lady of Discretion.” By Dorothea Conyers (Hutchinson). ~ .. “Gun Law.” By Charles M. Martin (Nicholson and Watson)., 4s 6d. (Each 7s 6d, unless otherwise stated.)

A New Zealand Boyhood / Mr Lawlor’s first novel indicates that in the story of Terry Mahoney—of which “The House of Templemore” is quite obviously merely the first instalment—he may yet add another figure to the brief list of New Zealand characters in fiction. Terry, the little Irish boy with the crooked neck, who skips and intrigues his way through the pleasant pages of this book, gives

one the Impression that he may develop into an authentic person. His childhood is no more eventful than that of most young New Zealanders, unless that he senses life more keenly than some, and his family is rather unusual in our suburban hegemony. But Mr Lawlor succeeds in giving the incident—unsensational except in the event of the runaway coach, which is not the best episode in the book, or the most skilfully-handled—the value of a shared experience. There are few readers who will fail to recognise in one aspect or another of Terry’s development the duplicate of their own adventures or emotions in youth. Terry’s family they may not know until they meet it here, but in Papa Mahoney Mr Lawlor has set down a most refreshing and lively personality. Papa Is a mean Irishman, than which, it is said, no matt; can be closer. The episodes ■in which lie is the player, whether that of the altercation with his tenant, Mrs McQuiggan.. on the matter of strangled ducks and overdue “ rint " or of his narrow escape from death while fumigating a vacated house (“ Did ye shut the door whin ye dragged me out? ” he gasped, when Mama rescued him. and on being assured she had. "Thin-ye’re a more thoughtful wimmin than I thought ye were”), are good fun and genuine characterisation. This is a very slight novel, but it contains the stuff of sin-, cerlty. The author displays few affectations. the stumbling block in so much of New Zealand’ fiction, because he is himself keenly absorbed in his task: he introduces local colour ” —a trip on the Mararoft, the visit of the circus, the Wellington scene at the turn of the century—without too much selfconsciousness: he has trained his memory back upon the sensations of youth without - becoming e ither maudlin or grandiloquent/ If- Terry’s saga progresses as promisingly-as it has commenced.. his > creator should have no doubt as to the interest of the public In his' work as novelist.

The Author: Patrick Anthony Lawlor was bom in Wellington in 1894, and was educated at the Marist Brothers’ School and St. Patrick’s College. In 1912 he joined the Evening Post as a “copy boy,” and later was attached «to the literary ■ staffs of various New Zealand newspapers. His experience included a term in the Press Gallery and a subeditorial position on the New Zealand Times. In 1922 he went to Sydney, to the Daily Telegraph. and on his return to New Zealand launched a New Zealand edition o:f the once successful Aussie. For seven years from 1926 the New Zealand Artists’ Annual, which he edited, enjoyed public favour. He is now the representative in the Dominion of the Bulletin, and of the New Zealand Railways Magazine and the Journal of Agriculture in the commercial field. He is the founder of the New Zealand centre of the P.E.N. and the Ex Libris Society. His previous publications include an autobiography and • several volumes of stories and sketches. He is married, with four children.

, The Wordsworths - The only reason one can discern for Helen Ashton’s casting of her study ;of William and Dorothy Wordsworth iin the mould of fiction is that she has invented dialogue, though even here, she says, conversation is based "largely on family letters. Her narrative as a whole follows, naturally, the adorable” journals of Dorothy, who has also provided, as she was well .capable of doing, the descriptions of the countryside in its changing seasons. ‘.For the rest, the book may best be described as biography, and very charming biography at that. The love story of Dorothy and Coleridge is heightened, to give a keener romantic note to the tale, but, in this the author does not seem to go beyond the grounds of reasonable presumption ,/She makes plain Wordsworth’s difficult character, and his views on life ..are strangely out of touch measured In modern terms. One’ realises that life at Rydal was rot one long, sweet ’song. But Dorothy is gracious always, and the many real people who "are introduced—Lamb and Walter . Scott among them—are most pleasantly "limned.

Official Secrets In “ The Prisoner’s Friend " those experienced collaborators George Goodchild and Bechhofen Roberts have treated, with more than usual ingenuity, of the themes of prosecution under the Official Secrets Act, of plastic surgery, and of air races. It is a catholic selection of subjects on which to construct a pjot. and one may complain of an uneven degree of skill in the narration. But the conflicting elements add up to an uncommonly agreeable thriller, with variety of scene, perplexities aplenty, and a conclusion none the less exciting for being anticipated —as it will be by most readers. The scenes at the trial are well done, and the atmosphere of espionage is quite convincing. “ Sampan Smith " This is an adventure story of the full-fashioned variety, with an authentic background on the Chinese coast. One would not say that the red-headed “ Sampan ” himself, who has risen from ship’s cook to a command of his own, has the flavour of some of Mr Somerset Maugham's memorable acclimatised Westerners in the East. But he is a likeable fellow, whose shrewdness in business and looseness in morals have each an attraction at this distance from their scene. The interrupted story < of his fife with his real love, Water-Lily, and of the mysterious machinations of Yat Loong. the magician, is quite well worth reading. Our copy is from Whitcombe and Tombs.

The Return of " Sandi" When Edgar Wallace settled down to write nothing but . thrillers he dismayed thousands of his readers, who had been avidly awaiting another “ Sanders ” ' adventure. But these readers could only mourn, as did the Ochori, the Akasava, the N’Gambi and other tribes on one other wellremembered occasion, “Sandi is gone, and there is no more law.” One’s first reaction to M. Gerrard’s literary resuscitation of Sanders and his companions is somewhat antagonistic to such an intrusion on mellow memories, but as the pages unfold this distrust is melted and one reveals again with “Sandi,” “Hamilton,” “Bones” and “ Bosambo ” in their adventures on the river. The author has succeeded splendidly in his portrayals of the principal characters, and if the background aginst which they play their roles is not always easy to reconcile with the Edgar Wallace manner, such a failing can well be discounted in favour of many merits of this book. Our copy is from Whitcombe and Tombs,

By Dorothea Conyers Mrs Conyers has always succeeded in investing her tales of Ireland with a light and easy gaiety, not to be despised amid the surrounding gloom exuded by the more serious chroniclers of the Irish scene. In “A Lady of Discretion,” however, she inclines to tax the reader’s credulity a little far, in her recital of the importance of a horse—or more precisely, a valuable mare—in the fortunes of hero and heroine. One recognises that the Irish will be ready to win or lose either a temper or a home on the performance of a horse, but it is somewhat difficult to believe that Aureen would be prepared to throw away her chance of happiness in a loveless marriage, simply to reimburse the hero for the loss of the mare, even though she was responsible for that. It is the animal, rather than its market price, that makes the Irish excessive devotees of horseflesh. But from an unlikely premise Mrs Conyers weaves a lighthearted enough tale in her accomplished manner.

When Gunmen Meet Black Bart, the outlaw, escaped from prison with but one obsession, to meet Alamo Bowie and determine which of them was the faster gunman. But first he trained Yuma Leslie, the half brother of one of Bowie’s victims, to account for Bowie’s adopted son. The intended victims were more than ready, however, when Black Bart and his gang swept down, and a series of exciting adventures end in the “showdown ” between the two gunmen. A romantic interest is cleverly interwoven throughout this exciting western story, V. V. L.