HOLIDAY READING

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26354, 8 January 1947, Page 3

HOLIDAY READING

A BUNDLE OF WAR NOVELS Freedom is the Man. By Philip Rush Andrew Dakers. 9s 6d. Sweet River in the Morning. By Winstone Clewes. Michael Joseph. 9s 6d. Begonia Walk. By Gavin Holt. Hodder and Stoughton. 8s 6d. Where are You Going. By Ruby M. Ayres. Hodder and Stoughton. 8s 6d. Love Calls the Tune. By Kathleen Norris. John Murray. 9s. Dawn to Destiny. By Dorothy M. Calts. Consolidated Press. 8s 6d. The Twig is Bent. By Capel Boake. Angus and Robertson. 7s 6d. Cookabundy Bridge. By Brian James. Angus and Robertson. 7s 6d. Tell Us About the Turkey, Jo. By Alan Marshall. Angus and Robertson. 7s 6d. A Communal Experiment A little known social experiment in England at the time of the Protectorate provides the background for Philip Rush’s novel Freedom is the Man. Gerrard Winstanley, a prosperous draper, finds himself unsettled by the political disturbances of his time and disposes of all his property and retires to the country to seek for truth. He conceives the idea that the common lands should be returned to the common people and after some evangelising he establishes a small- colony of “ Diggers " as nis followers became known. It was really an experiment in communal living. The colony prospered for several years, but pressure from the landlords finally destroyed all that had been accomplished. It is a novel about the people of the period rather than of the great figures which dominated it—a welcome departure from the norm. The Making of a Criminal There is a good deal of experimental fiction emerging in Eftgland at the present time. Sweet River in the Morning by Winston Clewes is an example of experiment in form. Set m London at the time of the Battle of Britain it describes how a. young man makes his first venture in crime and then by using a series of flash-backs into the past, the author seeks to give the young man’s “roots” and shows how he is the product of forces he is ignorant of. The treatment is fairly successful, but the novel as a whole gives an impression of slightness.

Unfinished Business Nine years after Inspector Saber had given up the “Begonia Walk Case he receives a visitor from the past and the old mystery is re-opened. Events threaten to repeat themselves tragically and to prevent this his assistant is posted in the house as a butler. It is a strange family he has to work for and the list of probable suspects includes almost the whole of the dramatis personae. The climax of the story hardly fulfils the excitement that is built up. but it *is a brightly written piece of work and provides a sufficient entertainment. A Consistent Performer The name of Ruby M. Ayres on the cover of a book is a sufficient recommendation to a wide circle of refersThey know that the book will be romantic, that it will be pleasant, and that a happy ending is almost certain. Such adherents will not be pointed in Where Are You Going? In this instance the strains of war bring r, changed young man back to his waiting sweetheart , and hut di ?uere °is nearly ends in tragedy, but there is another young man in the tale, and his long-standing, quiet devotion meets its reward.

Career—or Romance Even a brilliant young woman advocate may have errors in her past and when these emerge to complicate the claims of ambition and the c \ al P}® of love her situation is an unenv able one But in fiction, especially when it is written by Kathleen Norris Love Calls the Tune This is a characteristically readable story with a Californian setting. Miss Norris has a sense of character and deals with a sure hand with novels of this type.

Australian Romance Laid against the background of Sydney in the early years of last century, Dawn to Destiny is a tale of the vicissitudes of two young Scottish immigrants in the convict settlement. It is a romantic story which is unfolded, one of true love running its traditional bumpy road. The hero, Thor Macross, falls in love with Celtic thoroughness with the daughter of a dead convict and thereafter faces a multitude of tribulations. Eventually all the tangled threads are straightened, and there is a happy ending. Early Days in Melbourne The Twig is Bent is a romantic novel of the early days in Melbourne, written by Miss Boake under a fellowship grant from the Commonwealth Literary Fund There is no doubt that the authoress is well familiar with her period and she is to be congratulated on the remarkable vividness of her portrayal. Her characters are made to live, and the action of the story is competently handled. The story is that of a wealthy man and his family. The father’s life is made unhappy by the coldness and selfishness of his second wife and the. irresponsibility of his younger son. The separation of Mel bourne from the bureaucracy of Sydney, and the fever of the gold rush Ipoth play their parts and affect in various ways the characters in the story. This is a book that is well worth reading. Cookabundy Bridge, by Brian James and Tell Us about Turkey Joh, by Alan Marshall (7s 6d), both published by Angus and Robertson, Ltd., Sydney, are two volumes of short stories by Australian writers which exemplify the fact that Australia has acquired something which NeW Zealand does not yet possess, namely, a distinctive culture. Perhaps the word “ culture ’ Is to be jibbed at when used in connection with these books, as the characters described by both authors are by no means cultured men and women. But if, as someone has suggested, literature is the mirror of life, the authors succeed in giving clear, well-defined, and probably true reflections of Australian life and people. While both writers retain their Australian style, they make different approaches to their subjects.. Mr James treats his characters in" a humorous, benevolently cynical fashion, and he often uses, with considerable success, the. Russian “laughter through tears” method of gaining effect. Mr Marshall on the other hand, usually employs just the tears. Many of his stories are tragically realistic but there are also several containing sentiment which does not degenerate into sentimentality, pathos which does not become bathos, whimsicality which is not forced.