LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3314, 19 September 1917, Page 53

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICES

" Grace Lorraine." By Douglas Sladen. London: Hutchinson and Co. Third edition. (Cloth; 45.)

This is a delightful book by a wellknown author very popular in the Dominion, and at one time a regular con' tributor to the Ofcago Witness. But for the objection of the " trade " to a Latin title, the story would have been called "Via Pacis," since its theme is "the profound peace which still reigns in some parts of England." And there can be no question that " the contemplation of such an oasis should make comfortable reading both for our soldiers at the front and their relatives at home." Via Pacis is a semi-monastic endowed settlement in South Devon, the ruins of an ancient mediseval monastery and church being utilised and beautified for that purpose—the monks' houses turned into self-contained, modern cottages: the refectory used as a common dining hall, and the ruined chapel forming part of a lovely, well-sheltered rockgarden. The monks' houses are no longer devoted to the sterner sex alone, but are inhabited by a fellowship of poor authors, artists, and musicians of both sexes, whp may here follow the.ir art in peace in separate homes, but without the trouble of housekeeping and providing, each receiving a small sum for personal expenses, each absolutely free to come and go at will, one condition only being attached to the position—that when the Art, whatever its nature, becomes remunerative, the beneficiare should resign the cottage to some poorer brother or sister. Tho designer of this beautiful charity is Mr Lorraine, the father of the heroine, a man of old Devon family, enormously wealthy, and the last male of his line. With Grace's consent he spends half of his fortune in building and endowing this ideal retreat, and in this work and the companionship that it brings tastes the purest happiness. This is where the story opens, in a profound peace and quiet content. But Mr Lorraine, on the principle that " money makes money," plunges into gigantic speculations, and is ruined by the war. All his money, except that invested in Via Pacis (which is no longer in his own hands), is lost, and he and his daughter, leaving their splendid mansion and large establishment, go to live in the Abbot's Lodging, and become recipients of their own charity. Such is an outline of the main plot. Mr Lorraine is well content with the change; Grace is not. He is a little king among the fellows, happy and occupied. She has lost everything—her beautiful home full of art treasures, a wide circle of congenial friends and occupations,—all that goes to make the life of a young, beautiful, wealthy woman standing on the threshold of an nnusTiallv fair and promising life. Via Pacis affords her neither occupation nor friendship, and the voung blood in her veins demands somethingr more active than the mere negation of the quiet life. We become interested in the evolution of her character and the conduct of her two love affairs—one begun in childhood with the grandson of the fine old rector of the parish, and the other with the purchaser

of Mr Lorraine's property. Roger Wynward is the typical British public school boy, and man of small, independent means, graceful, athletic, good to look at, "a perfect sportsman and gentleman," but with no definite ambition or object in life. Richmond Ebbutt is a self-made American, with no education, no h's, no manners, and, strange to say, no selfesteem ; but he has a golden heart and many noble ambitions. Grace refuses Roger again and again because he trifles with life, but finally, when the war provides him with a vocation, consents to a conditional engagement. At first she fairly hates the American intruder, who breaks all the canons of good society and gentle breeding; but as she is brought more closely in touch with him, she learns to appreciate his many noble natural qualities. They are drawn together over a great scheme of building a copy of the famous Sicilian village of Taomina on the cliffs of South Devon, and making of it an ideal health resort while preserving all the features of the beautiful Sicilian house and public buildings even to the famous out-of-door theatre. Ebbutt begins the work, partly as a business scheme, but is soon drawn on by a hitherto undeveloped side of his nature —the appreciation and love of beauty and art, and in this fascinating task, involving, as' it does, considerable labour and study, Grace and her uncouth suitor are brought very-jiear to each other. The story is well written and extremely interesting. The plot is ' carefully worked out, and every character strongly individualised. The planning of Via Pacis and the building of the new Taomina give a praetical, human .interest to the evolution of Grace Lorraine's nature and her choice of a husband. War clouds thunder in the distance, but " The Way of Peace " sheds a benign influence over the foreground, and bathes the reader in a pleasant atmosphere of restful contemplation. " Giddy Mrs Goodyer." By Mrs Horace Tremlett. London: John Lane, "The Bodley Head." (Cloth; 45.) " Giddy Mrs Goodyer " is a sprightly domestic comedy in Mrs Tremlett's best manner, full of delicate humour and smart, even caustic, observation. The scene of the story is laid in South Africa, in Pretoria, Johannesburg, and various smaller places, and shows an intimate knowledge of social life in that colony. Mrs Goodyer (the adjective " Giddy " describes her exactly), having married a mining engineer in complete ignorance of the life she would be expected to lead on the scene of his work, becomes disgusted with the dullness and loneliness of her existence and her husband's preoccupation, and suddenly makes up her mind to leave him and get an easy divorce according to South African law. She goes to stay with a friend, Kathleen Farrar-Worsley, who is happily married to a man several years her junior, where she contrived, quite unintentionallv, to arouse the gentleman's " interest r ' and the lady's jealousy, and then, when Kathleen refuses to assist in getting her divorce, assuring her that she has "no case," she leaves the shelter of her friend's roof and goes to Johannesburg on "her own." Here she gets into a variety of absurd scrapes, and, although she does nothing absolutely WTong or seriously compromising, contrives to get herself into a good deal of trouble. She is so all-advised as to put her intended divorce into the hands of a disreputable solicitor, who induces her to sign a false affidavit, and then proves an expert blackmailer. She forms an intimate acquaintance with several dangerous persons of both sexes, who lead her into Bohemian society, where she shares the fate of the " grass widows," who, according to the author, " are born to affliction. It is their lot, and few there are who escape it. The good ones never do : they are much too heavily handicapped, for, in addition to all the paraphernalia of the faithful wife, thev have the freedom and opportunities of the unattached. The woman, who is clever enough to take advantage of the one without imperilling the other, and at the same time avoid conflict with her surroundings, exists only in the imagination of those who have never tried to do it." Mrs Goodyer is not " clever enough " for the position; hence the constant difficulties, misunderstandings, and compromising positions, which make up a most amusing story. At the same time the little woman is really good and honest of heart, and so the whole affair ends happily with a good laugh and general pardon. The story is really excellent, reflecting some aspects of colonial life with that whimsical, distinctive humour associated with the work of this entertaining writer. It is gay without being vulgar. It is laughable without a hint of impropriety.