AMONG THE BOOKS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2856, 9 December 1908, Page 88

AMONG THE BOOKS.

THE FIRING LINE. Bi Robkrt W. Chambers. New York : D. Appleton and Co. Dunedin: Messrs Whitcombe and Tomb-;. Mr Robert W. Chambers is one of the few out of the many American writers of fiction whose novels of American society have found much favour in the United Kingdom. He has devoted himee]f- lajgely to giving an insight into the life of the old New York families—defendants of the Knickerbockers and those who constitute the select "Four Hundred." He writes with freshness andvigour, his characters are well drawn, tfnd he maintains the interest of his readers to the last page. The opening chapter of "The Firing Line" is decidedly original. Garry Hamil, a landscape gardener and architect, who has been engaged by Mr Cardross to lay out his grounds in Florida, has put off in a boat from a yacht owned by a friend, rrho has guaranteed to land him at a (Florida watering-place, and is resting on his oars, when a beautiful young girl who <has been out for a swim climbs into the boat and asks permission to rest until the fog creeping over the water lifts. iTho unknown proves to be Sheila, the adopted daughter of Cardross. Hamil falls in love, only to' find there are inseparable obstacles. 'The beautiful jonng girl is a foundling, whose name and history . are unknown. This, of course, would not stand in the way but at turns out that, acting on a mad impulse on first, learning of her obscure origin, she married Louis Malcourt, who ' had been her youthful playmate. The I irtarriage was a secret one. The situa- ( tion which thus arises is dealt with on j novel lines by Mr Chambers, I

and as the story proceeds it borders on the tragic. Louis Malcourt is a "ladies' ' man, and has many affairs on hand. He is put forward as a representative of an old family that has become decadent and degenerate, and Miss Victoria Suydam is another of the type — a Puritan gone to j seed. Sheila is a charming character, but, frankly speaking, Garry Hamil does not improve on further acquaintance. His maiden aunt and Mr C'ardross are contrasts to Malcourt and Miss Suydam, and genuine examples of the older and better generation. Everything is brought to as satisfactory an ending at the end as is possible in such a tangle as has been indicated. The conclusion borne m on the reader is that society in New 1 oik is, on the whole, in a bad way.