BOOK OF THE WEEK

Taranaki Daily News, 10 November 1934, Page 13 (Supplement)

BOOK OF THE WEEK

PROGRESS OF A MISFIT

(By

U.S.)

“Winding Road,” by Neil Bell. W. Collins, Sons & Co. Ltd., London. A. J. Fyfe Ltd. New Plymouth.

A new work by the author of Bredon and Son was sure of a welcome, but “Winding Road” is a disappointment. Being a story by Mr. ' Bell there is nothing to complain of in the manner of its telling. Characterisation, especially of some of the minor people is done admirably. The descriptions of village folk in the West of England are the real thing, there is a true sense of situation, and the description of “St. Bedes” will make educationists in New Zealand wonder if our own training colleges need any overhaul in methods and in principles. But when all that is admitted, there is an uncomfortable feeling when the book has been read that one has listened to the moans of a misfit for a Very long time, and for a result that is as exasperatingly indefinite as “Stephen Martell” found most things in life. The story opens in a Cornish village in which there are the usual beauties and horrors of small self-contained communities that a generation ago were often completely isolated. “Towan” was the home of Tom Martell, fisherman and “the strongest man in Towan”; Eve, his wife, “small, dainty, fairhaired and fresh-faced”; and their two boys, Roy and Stephen, eight and five years old respectively. Into this happy family Guy Herage, a northerner with plenty of money to spend, brings disaster and tragedy. The Martell family is scattered, and Stephen finds himself a member of his uncle’s household on a prosperous farm in North Devon, his older brother being taken charge of by his grandmother in London. Once again misfortune spoils Stephen's childhood. His aunt dies, and her husband becomes infatuated with Nellie “the big, dark, handsome young wife of Ricky Bagshott.” He takes her to the farm, makes her his mistress and soon begins to share Nellie’s liking for alcohol. The sequel is material and moral degradation and Stephen is sent to his aunt at “Brampton” in Kent, obviously a nom de plume of Chatham. There the one aim and ambition of youth was, or according to parents ought to have been, to obtain a position in the navy shipyard. George Martell, Stephen’s uncle, tried to instil the great idea into his nephew’s mind. His own son Richard had accepted it with warm enthusiasm. Stephen wins his opportunity after dreary years at a primary school, but he is a misfit and, almost to the shame of his uncle, himself a petty officer in “the yard” resigns his apprenticeship. His aunt and uncle are patient with him, and training for a teacher’s career is the next attempt made to “settle” Stephen in life. He is just as big a misfit as a pupil teacher as he had been as an apprentice, and though he gets the opportunity of two years’ tuition at “St. Bedes” training college' he is unhappy and hyper-critical of the establishment and all it stands for. The pictures of the college, its occupants and its principal are not attractive, though -occasionally the reader feels that what is meant’ to. horrify .is. only. a .rather unpleasant exhibition of the youthful desireto show; off• Stephen is “sent down” for a'.’ ihdiithin his last year for an indiscretion for which his cousin Joyce is responsible. He had not seen her since he left Devonshire and found her in London a member of an . ancient but dishonourable profession. Joyce was-kind to Stephen, however,.. though . her association- -withhim was very brief. Joyce was not the first nor the last woman to bring disillusionment to Stephen. His first sex entanglement was sordid enough, but the disappearance of the girl concernedmakes Stephen “aware for the first time that there was no real foundation for the belief that humanity was of any more importance in the universe thaiithe dead shrivelled spiders one found in winter behind the books in the college library,” a conclusion that seems to indicate that Master Stephen had considered his personality of some importance in the scheme of things. And so it goes on. He finds primary school teaching an awful tunnel of dullness and deceit through which in long, long years he may, when he is too old to appreciate freedom, emerge into the sunshine of pensioned ease. After many efforts, and, it may be added, the first bit of sustained work recorded, Stephen, by the help of his brother Roy, gets a chance as a copywriter In an advertising agency. He does .quite well, but infatuation for Brenda Sarne, model and mistress to Godfrey Barlash, plays ducks and drakes with Stephen’s progress as a journalist though it does end in the editor’s chair of a Labour daily paper.

Indeed with the introduction of Labour enthusiasts, men and women, the readei begins to wonder what is the object of the book.. Is it emotional romance, the story of a great man’s development, or political elucidation in many chapters? To put it plainly the story sprawls, and in its spreading covers a lot of sex relationships that may have been important to Stephen Martell, but which Scarcely seem worth discussing in so much detail. He throws away a seat in Parliament, and a wealthy fiancee for the sake of another man’s wife, and what is to be the end of the man the reader is left to conjecture. If the characters that are drawn withsuch feeling, passion, and ability to make them credible are truly . representative, they are rather dreadful revelations of a period of license that is said to have passed as the excitement of the war’s aftermath was quenched in the years of dismal depression. The characters are firmly if unconventionally drawn. Brenda Sarne is a curious mixture of wanton and selflessness, but the feeling that it is all much pother for nothing increases as the book proceeds.

There are political touches that revitalise the story in patches. They show a powerful knowledge of human passion and a cynical disregard for any idealism in politics. They are frank, informative, and sometimes approach as near humour as is permitted in this story of a man’s progress and career. A wellwritten, industrious story, but unsatisfying, for interest in the young man who is so sure of his own preciousness is not always easy to sustain.

Some good titles in the week-end library, very suitable to keep in mind for Christmas gifts. Price 4s each. “With Silent Friends,” Richard King; “Second Book of Silent Friends,” Richard King; “Two Vagabonds in Spain,”... Jan and Cora Gordon; “The Road to Endor,” E. H. Jones, “Behind the Beyond,” Stephen Leacock; “The Escaping Club,” A. J. Evans; “Some Experiences of a New Guinea Magistrate,” C. A. W. Monckton. A. J. Fyfe, Ltd., “The Book People.” ’Phone 1397.