NEW NOVELS

Southland Times, Issue 23676, 26 November 1938, Page 14

NEW NOVELS

CASUAL MARRIAGES THESE WERE THE YOVNG. By Mary Nicholson. Longmans Green and. Co., London. Price 7/6. When Johnny Quinn, aged 46, marries Margaret, aged 19, it seems obvious that he is looking for trouble. The girl is frivolous as well as young, ana is soon entangled with a boy not much older than herself. At.first Johnny is patient, although the average reader is likely to believe that he would have handled the marriage better if he spoke plainly to his wife, insisted on having his own way about living in London, instead of making himself a martyr to the railway time-table, and even spanked her if she failed to listen to reason. Johnny waits until it is too late and then sends Margaret home, later divorcing her. For a time he is crushed; but in spite of everything he is tenacious in his search for happiness. He meets Charlotte, who is like himself in that she belongs to the generation that suffered most from the war years. Here, it would seem, is the ideal companion. But Johnny does not love her, and seems to marry her in a fit of absent-mindedness. He is still vaguely dissatisfied, and eventually allows himself to drift into a friendship with a younger woman named Beatrix. The story ends at a point where it becomes obvious that the friendship is not to remain platonic. In and out of these marriages and affairs moves an odd assortment of people. There are parties and curious encounters, and everybody drinks heartily. The author seems to have intended to convey the emotional uncertainty of men and women who find themselves out of step with the new generation. But Johnny is not altogether a success. At times he comes dangerously close to being a bore, and although he is badly treated by Margaret he can scarcely escape the charge of behaving like a callow youth instead of an j experienced man of the world.