SOME RECENT FICTION.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 143, 23 July 1914, Page 5

SOME RECENT FICTION.

[Beviewed for THE SUN.] "Silver Strand." In the "Silver Strand" (Hodder and Stcrughtbn), the late Mr S. R. Crockett went back to the scene and pr-iiod of those early and delightful Galloway stories, '' The Raiders '' and '' The Grey Man.'' The story, which is placed in the mouth of Nathan Crego, '' sometime schoolmaster and parish clerk in Leswalt (or Saulseat) in the Rhynns of Galloway,'' and is thereby tinged by an archaic" favour —a touch of what Stevenson called '' tushery''—is a fine, full-blooded romance of those full-blooded times when Claverhouse and his dragoons were the terror of the Lowlands, and when John Faa, a gipsy, who claims to be of blood royal of Egypt, and his rascally brother, Hector, were feared —or bebeloved —by. the country folk. John Faa becomes Silver Sand~"from his business of 'carrying' sythe sand down from the straths of the mountain lochs, where no other dares venture," and helps the Sheriff Principal of the County, Sir Andrew Agnew, and his outlawed son against Claverhouse and his men. There is, of course, a romantic love story to vary the semi-historical colour, and Mr Crockett has provided his readers with a most bountiful supply" of "bonny fiction'' and pretty love-making, the whole against a very picturesque background. It is a pity that the hand which penned so wellconstructed and readable a story should have been stilled : for ever by death, especially as this last novel of Mr Crockett's is so 'much stronger stuff than one orvtwo of its immediate predecessors. "The Mountain Apart."

The name of James Prosper, author of "The Mountain Apart" (Ileinemann) i§ new to me, but if his succeeding stories are as good as the one • just mentioned, he stioald be assured of a rapidly widening audience. I confess to the suspicion that "Jamgs Prosper" is the pseudonym of some lady writer, for it is difficult to believe that a masculine hand could have penned such intimate, penetrating, and convincing studies of femininity as are to be found in this novel. The story deals, for the most part, with the marriage—a marriage only in name —of a young lady who assists in managing a Brighton boarding' house, to an elderly, rich, but eccentric connoisseur. The personality of the heroine, Rose Hilton, is complex, and sometimes not a trifle baffling, but her very weaknesses are to her credit, and she well deserves her final good fortune. The strength of the novel is not in its plot, but in the actuality of its. situations and the convincing air of modernity and reality which pervades its pages. The portraits of sach very different types of latter-day English women as tire heroine's partner, Lady Myrone, the two middle-aged lady boarders, and another boarder who plays with the dangerous fires of the suffragette movement, will not readily be surpassed in current fiction. I can strongly recommend "A Mountain Apart." "A Free Hand."

"A Free Hand," by Helen Roberts (Duckworth and Co.) is from the same pen which gave us those excellent novels almost Jane Austen-like in the simplicity of their telling—"Old Brent's Daughter" and "Something New," both of which, when they first appeared, were highly commended in this column. In her new stories Miss Roberts tells the life history— at least the major part thereof—of a young man, who, born of shopkeeping parents in a quiet Sussex town, is enabled, through his mother's ■wise disposition of a legacy, to rise superior to his surroundings, and study for and enter the profession of dentistry. His parents wish him to marry a companion of his youth, but opportunity and a romantic temperament make liim fall in love with an actress, who, herself only in love with her profession, is touched by the young fellow's sympathy and assistance when illness has temporarily driven her from the boards. The marriage turns out a failure, and ends in a divorce, the hero turning for consolation to a faithful country girl who has long loved him in seeret. Practically the story has but little plot. Its charm, and that charm is undeniable, lies in its firmly-drawn and convincing character studies, and the quiet but fascinating, smoothness of its narration." A restful, eminently pleasant story, and, like its predecessors, conveying a markedly truthful presentment of everyday life in a small English town. "Roding Bectory."

Archibald Marshall, whose capital first novel, "Exton Manor," many of us thought quite equal to Trollope's best work, and whose even better story, £ ' The Honour of the Clintons,'' was so well reviewed last year, is almost, if not quite, as successful in his new story of English country life,'' Roding Rectory'' (Stanley, Paul and Co.). The antagonistic influences in a small country town of the Established Church and Dissent are cleverly exhibited and contrasted, but although it is easy to see where the author's personal sympathies lie, there is not even the suspicion of any unfair

partiality in his character sketches of Anglican vicars and curates and the representatives of Nonconformity. And we have no doubt as to the sincerity of che author's pleasure when, in the final chapter, the son of Dr Meadows, the great Nonconformist divine who, worn out;, by his London labours, temporarily talis charge of the modest little chapel at Eoding, and marries the rector's daughter. The story has many good features, not the least being the dexterity and good taste with which certain rather awkward incidents are dealt with/ aud the character drawing is careful and effective. The story drags a little at times, but much may be forgiven the author for the fine quality of the story's literary craftsmanship.

SHORTER NOTICES.

Three recent additions to John Long's Colonial Library are, "The Oyster," by "A Peer;" "The Beloved Premier," by H. Maxwell; and "The Maze," by A. L. Stewart. In "The Oyster "-is a story of life in : the ultra smart set of London society, the plot turning upon the purchase, by a childless lady, of the infant of an impecunious but recklessly extravagant friend. Both women appear in a very disagreeable light, and although in the end the child seller pays a terrible -penalty for her share in the deception, it is difficult tc feel any real pity for either her or her co-partner in the trick which was played upon Lord Blakeney. The story, however, is brightly told, and the lively pictures of Parisian and London life will no doubt please many of its readers.

In "The Beloved Premier," Mr%. Maxwell, author of that amusing story, "The Paramount Stop," treats his readers to a wild but decidedly entertaining fantasy, which turns upon the remarkable resemblance between two brothers, one the Prime Minister of England, the other, alas, a confirmed criminal, who, however, sins only from what he oddly conceived to be the most benevolent motives. How one Mr Sloan, the Prime Minister, is replaced in office and power, by his gaol-bird brother, and himself takes the latter's place in a cell at Portland, and what astounding results upon Great Britain's foreign and internal policy thus ensue, Mr Maxwell tells with great spirit and decided gusto. Of course, it is all perfectly impossible and not a little absurd, but underlying the farcical fun is not a Mtle effective satire upon politicians and political events of'the present time.

"The Maze," by A. L. Stewart, relates the story of a brilliant young violinist's somewhat unfortunate lovje affairs.. /He is tricked into a marriage with an elderly v and rather shrewish prima donna, whilst the girl he loves is cruelly doomed to a yet more unhappy ir atrimonial experience with a peculiarly odious Jew. The story, which ends with the premature death of the violinist, hardly makes pleasant reading.'

May Wynne is wisely loyal to the genre in which she made, by "The Helmet of Navarre," her first success. There is always a big public for the romance historical, and for this public Miss Wynne has become by this time an experienced and most efficient caterer. In her latest story, "The Silent Captain," (Stanley Paul and Co.) she takes her readers back to the France of the Catholic-Huguenot wars, with the famous Conde and the Due de Guise as chief actors. But Miss Wynne wisely does not rely upon the vividity of her historical colour, for she gives us an interesting love story of much dramatic interest in many of its episodes. Denise and Ursulie are charming heroines, and their lovers are gallants well worthy of them. A very readable novel.

From the moment when Jane Race, beautiful, well-educated, well-bred, but reduced to poor circumstances by the death of her father, encounters "the sun-burnt man," and succours his favourite Bully which a taxi cab has run over, the experienced novel reader easily '' spots'' the male figure in the curious meeting as the inevitable Mr Right, who will reappear, with a wed-ding-bells accompaniment, in the last chapter. Before, however, that stage is reached, the heroine of Millicent Heathcote's brightly written story, " Entertaining Jane " (Mills and Boon); undergoes some varied but mostly unpleasant experiences as "entertainer" at a Yorkshire "hydro," her special misfortune being to repel the amorous advances of a peculiarly vulgar Hebrew person, of the '' nouveau riche'' class. Jane, however, is a clear witted as well as a clean-souled young lady, and is quite able to rout her enemies. The hydro scenes are very amusing.

Recent addition to John Long 's popular sixpennies are 1 "The King's Favourite, '' a characteristic sporting story by Nat Gould; and two more or less sensational stories, "No. 3 The Square," by Florence Warden, and '' Miss Arnott's Marriage,'' by Richard Marsh. To the same publishers' sevenpenhy series of cloth-bound novels has been added one of Curb Yorke's popular stories, "Mollie Deverill."