LITERATURE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3403, 4 June 1919, Page 62

LITERATURE.

BOOK NOTICES. "The Roll-call." By Arnold Bennett. London; Hutchinson and Co. (Cloth; 6s net.) Mr Arnold Bennett's new.novel carries on his romances of tho Five Towns to another generation, telling tha story of ' George Edwin Cannon, the son of Hilda j Lessways. It is, however, in no sense a j continuation of the previous books, except, j indeed, that they serve as a sort of backi ground or Introduction. George Cannon i is a young architect just learning his i business, for which he has an extraordi- ! nary aptitude. The story carries him ; through the final years of his apprenticeI ship and a few years longer, leaving him, j as is usual in .Mr Bennett's stories, on I a note of- interrogation. During these i years he fails in love and marries. But j the girl that lie falls in love with is not | the girl that ho marries. In each- case Kwe find the intimate relation, the minute 1 details of -circumstance and surroundings, j that go to the making of every picture,' i often, apparently, unnoticed, "yet never ; escaping the eye of the true artist. There | is nothing slurred or unfinished in Mr ! Bennett's work—raw ends, as it were, —

whether we see Marguerite Haims carefully designing in the basement parlour of the Chelsea house, or the final rupture on board the Thames ferry steamer on the way to and from Greenwich, whither George had taken her on purpose to secure a quiet time, which could not be obtained in any other way, since here father had forbidden him the house. The whole description of this little home voyage, of the emotions stirred in the mind of the young archtiect by the buildings, beautiful and ugly, enshrining such narae3 as Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, and the more modern architect of Westminster Cathedral, together with the strange story of the erection of Greenwich Hospital itself; these, with the great river and its craft, small and large, show London in its most romantic aspect, with mist-wreathen towers, sunset hues, and wonderful reflections, followed by the. return to the old Chelsea pier, where Marguerite leaves him and passes out of his sight, "swallowed up in the waste of human dwellings, in the measureless and tragic aspect expanse of the indifferent town," having resigned her lover in order to devote herself to her cross-grained old father. George's wife, Lois, is, of course,' the antithesis of the gentle, devoted Marguerite. She is a fashionable woman, with a great taste for luxury and display, whose ambitions fit with his, and who spurs him on to greater and ever greater successes. As an architect George's adventures are full of interest, and the tale of his successful competition for the design of the "Biggest Town Hall" in Britain, to be erected in a northern city, whose identity is very thinly disguised, proves of entrancing charm. The young artist, not yet out of his articles, working far into the night, sometimes until the dawn, in the face of every discouragement, never satisfied until he has done his best, drawing and redrawing to the last moment, and then waiting through the long, weary days till he becomes well-nigh hopeless, to find his plans approved and himself the envied of friends and contemporaries. Then the many difficulties of strikes, contractors, etc., and the final opening, whither he goes nervously, fearing to -be made too much fuss of, and finds himself entirely eclipsed by the jubilant townspeople and the glib contractor, who pat each other on the back and talk largely of " our building," "our Town Hall," while the designer and maker of the same, from whose brain it sprang, full armed, like Minerva from the brain of Jove, passes by without recognition. Cther great schemes follow. Then the war breaks out, and the clever artist, " the most promising architect in Britain," obeys the 8011-call, and is offered a commission in an artillery corps, accepts it, and is soon on his way to France, whither, we are not permitted to follow him. What some of Mr Bennett's previous books have done for the well-known Midland "Five Towns" the "8011-call" does for Chelsea. Bloomsbuiw, and the West End. alternating with glimpses of Parisian life in the artist's quarters. It is a masterly piece of work. "The Wanderer on a Thousand Hills." Bv Edith Wherry. London: John Lane, " The Bodley Head." (Cloth : 65.) This is a Chinese story, the great merit of which lies in the keen sympathy with which it bridges the great gulf between East and West, translating into the language of our own world the sufferings and heroic endurances of a people of alien aim and temperament. The fidelity with which this task is accomplished stamps Edith Wherry as .a novelist of indisputable power. It is the story of an educated girl of the poorer classes, daughter of the schoolmaster in a humble village, who, having no son, determines to educate his only child in spite of all prejudice to the contrary. The child is beautiful and clever, and attracts the notice of the only son of the richest man in the village, a' tyrannical oppressor, who is hated by all. But Jung Knang is determined to wed the Winter Almond as soon as she is old enough to be married, and he gets his way. Some years pass while the bov is completing his education. Part of this time is spent by Winter Almond in a missionary school for Chinese girls, where she becomes passionately attached to the missionary's little son, Carl Osbonrne. In due course the marriage is celebrated with all the minute and allegorical details belonging to the " august ceremony." Among these is the superstition of the "Two Candles." These are lit on the wedding night, and are supposed to burn all night. If either should become extinguished it means death within

the year. This fatfi happens to the bridegroom's candle, and immediately there is a terrible disturbance. Poor little Winter Almond is very cruelly treated by her mother-in-law, and, owing to the customs of the country, her young husband can do nothing to save her. The only hope is that she may bear a son who will be able to carry on the ancestral worship and protect tho spirit of his father from all adverse influences hi the Spirit Land. Unfortunately, the expected child is a daughter. The gi'and-parents wish to destroy the " useless " one. The young mother fights for its life. Then comes the big storm. Jung Kuang, who has gone to gather wild-" flowers for his wife, is killed by lightning. The babe is drowned and the young mother driven out into the storm. On the same day that ended so disastrously for the family of the village tyrant, little Carl Osbourne, then six years of age, wanders forth on a childish quest. He plays and walks, falls asleep, and is overtaken by the storm. He loses his way, suffers the extremity of terror, and sinks down insensible in a field of sorguam. Here he is found by Winter Almond, who in her despair, was anxious to die, but immediately seizes the lost child and manages to drag him to her father's hut. In her wild panic and terror she receives him as a direct gift of the gods, and at once claims him as her OAvn. Carl has a long 'illness, in which he forgets the past. The missionaries, having sought him the whole night, believe him to be lost, and Winter Almond brings him up as her own son. He is educated in the strictest Chinese manner, and ultimately reaches the very highest honour which a literary man can attain, and then, in the supreme moment of his life, he hears English spoken, and his memory comes back.