BOOK OF THE WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 5 July 1930, Page 17 (Supplement)

BOOK OF THE WEEK

RHODESIA’S BACKBLOCKS

(By

G.E.)

"Susan Outside," l>y Sheila Macdonald: Cassell and Company, Ltd.-; London and Melbourne, through Avery and Sons. Ltd, New Plymouth.

A day or two ago. before I had completed the reading of “Susan Outside,” a friend remarked to me that it was not up to the standard of Sheila Macdonald's earlier books. At that moment I was not prepared to agree with him, and. now that I have read the whole story 1 am quite willing to argue the point with him. Much depends, of course, upon what is meant by /‘standard.” I think the authoress has improved in book-craft since she made her first essav. but I am also of the opinion that 'she will never again produce anything so delightfully spontaneous as “Sally in Rhodesia.”

.Those who have read the whole series will remember that "Sally” was . the story of a young married woman in a new country and was constructed from letters written by the heroine to her mother. They were entirely natural, arid therein lay the strength of the story. “Martie” gave the impression of having been written to order, and it naturally lacked the spontaneity of “Sally.”'' The third story, “Margaret Venning,” proved to be rather a novel than a narrative, and its subject matter related to some phases of Rhodesian life that were not particularly edifying. In “Susan Outside.” I am glad to say, the authoress shows a commendable disposition to return to her. first love. Susan is a girl who has gone out from England to keep house for her brother Bob and his mate Sandy, who are engaged in a small mining proposition. She is outside because “outside” in the Rhodesian sense is all that lies beyond the range of the townships. Susan lives in a sort of wilderness, her. nearest neighbours being some miles away, and her experiences are related in letters to a girl friend at Home. Undoubtedly Sheila Macdonald is an artist where letter-writing is concerned, and in her new book she has developed a really literary style of epistle besides using her talent to good effect as a means of describing many strange, things in what must be an alluring country. Hitherto the “Sally” books- have put us in touch with both the farming life and the town life of Rhodesia. Now we gather very entertaining information concerning the mining industry, at least in one of its aspects. Bob and Sandy have not. been particularly successful, and the quartz mine and its four-stamp battery to which they introduce Susan is by no means a bonanza, but it can be imagined that the story of such an undertaking as theirs gets right down to tin tacks and opens up entirely new ground. Susan's impressions and her methods of adapting herself to the new life are, of course, the main theme of her chatty letters, but the work of the men, the difficulties they have to meet and the results of their operations are never forgotten. Susan’s housekeeping in the wilderness makes an interesting study, for when visitors drop in, which is pretty often, she cannot run to a store for “extras” to make a meal. She is, of course, dependent upon Kafir boys for domestic labour, and as a newcomer Susan finds them rather a handful. The result is that she writes some fine descriptive passages, in which she shrewdly assesses the good and bad qualities of the boys, Here is an anecdote of a neighbour’s wash-boy, who tried to wash the clothes with suet: “He duly went to the kitchen for his allowance of Lux; found no one there; saw a bowl of finely chopped suet on. the table . No need for further details! At the end of the morning, by which time half the staff had been accused of theft, he brought a sad-looking heap of greasy oddments for his mistress’ inspection. ‘Kabanga mtagatili’ (I think they are bewitched) was his contribution to the solving of the puzzle, as he sadly held up each greasy garment to his mistress’ horrified gaze.” The Kafirs are very thorough believers in witchcraft and also very cunning. Susan tells many good stories of them. One of the neighbours, Ruddy, •was in dire straits with a leopard when a Kafir boy killed it. Ruddy rewarded him with a pound and promotion to head herd-boy. “Within a month the wily youth brought off a lucrative private deal with half-a-dozen head of his master’s cattle, and then faded away Zumbesi-wards, where he belonged. And hasn’t been heard of since, either, notwithstanding Ruddy’s loudly expressed laments at being denied even five minutes personal contact with him.” •Susan is evidently a very observant person and possesses considerable powers of description, having, moreover the happy knack of condensing her remarks so as to give emphasis and colour. “The Kafir as a farmer,” she tells us, “puts up a very poor show. . . When he decides to plant, say, a few rows of mealies or ground nuts, all he does is to hoe out a series of shallow trenches about fifteen inches deep and ridge up the loosened earth on top of the untouched strips between. That’s all, and there he sows his seed.”

So much good material for anecdotes is provided by the Kafirs that they are always prominent .in the story, but there are many other reasons why Susan keeps one interested and entertained. She has decided ideas on immigration and methods of colonisation, and she possesses a nice senso or discrimination. In such a country as Rhodesia there ate evidently many curious types of the human being to be 'met. "'Susan shows great skill in the wav she introduces them into her letters ‘and lets them speak of themselves, with admirable results. Shethoroughly appreciates the humorous side of .the many entertaining situations she describes, and there is not a trace of vulgarity in her fun, For that reason, and for others, her unaffected, sympathetic accounts of backblocks life in Rhodesia appeal to me. She loves this fine new' country, and she knows how to communicate her enthusiasm to her readers.