NEW BOOKS.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 146000, 5 December 1917, Page 5

NEW BOOKS.

No Man’s Land,—By “Sapper,” author of “Men, Women ana Guns,” etc. London; Hodder and Stoughton. “Sapper” has acquired such a popularity with his “Mon, Women, and Guns,” “Sergeant . Michael Cassidy, K.E.,” and “The Lieutenant and Others” that anything from his pen is certain of a warm welcome. There is no writer of war stories who has greater power of description of war ' scenes, and he has a technical know- ■ ledge of his. .subject too which can ■ scarcely bo surpassed. Like his other ■hooks, “No Man’s Land” is a series ■of short stories, and studies of incidents at the front, from which the reader is able to gather o good klea of what being, at the front means. It will be just..as popular as its predecessors, and that is saying a great deah The Gossip Shop.—By J. E. Buckrose, author of “The Round-about,” “The Matchmakers,” etc. London: Hodder and Stoughton. A novel with a purpose, and a very usefutono too, for .it is intended to expose to the light the foolishness, often the wickedness of gossiping. \Vendlebury is a village typical of many, where the inhabitants have little to occupy their thoughts and consequently take more than a passing interest in their neighbours’ affairs, with the usual result—mischief in many , instances. The story is well told, some of the characters are . delightfully drawn, and the no is some clever dialogue, especially on the part of Eva Martin, a domestic who, by virtue of long service, takes liberties. Songs of a Campaign.—By Leon Gellert. Third ami enlarged edition. With illustrations by Norman Lindsay. Sydney; Angus and Ivobertsou, Ltd. Australia has produced another poot, who must be ranked at once with the host of the others, for his “Songs of a Campaign” are of a very higli order of merit indeed. Mr. Gclle.rt joined the Australian Expeditionary Forces and was wounded on Gallipoli. Most of his “songs” were written while he was on active service or in hospitalj and ho not only knows of what he sings but is able to put his thoughts into words in an exceedingly impressive manner. There is a. world of meaning in the few j lines entitled “Anzac Cove.” There’s a lonely stretch of hillocks; There’s a beach asleep and drear: There's a battered broken fort beside the sea. There are sunken trampled graves; And a little rotting pici; And winding paths that wind unceasingly. There's a lorn and silent valley: There’s a tiny, rivulet With some blood upon tho stones beside its mouth. There arc lines of buried bones: There’s an unpaid waiting debt; Thore’s a sound of gentle sobbing in tho South. There in a dozen lines is the tragedy of Gallipoli, lines which stamp the writer as the possessor of imagination and great dramatic power. Here is another little scrap entitled “Tho Jester in tho Trench’ ’; “That just reminds mo of a yarn,” he said, And everybody turned to hear his tale. He had a thousand yarns inside his head. They waited for him, ready with their mirth And creeping smiles—then suddenly turned pale, Grew still, and gazed hjwr the earth. They hoard no tala. N« further word was said. And with his untold fun. Half homing on his gun, TJkcy left him—dead. Norman Lindsay’s illustrations are admirable, and we can strongly commend tho little volume to lovers of good verse and good drawing. Three Elephant Dower.—By A. B. Paterson, author of “The Man from Snowy River.” etc. Sydney; Angus and Robertson, Ltd. “Banjo” Paterson’s name and writings are “familiar as household words” throughout Australia and Non; Zealand, and this collection of stories .and sketches will be welcomed wherever he is known, though they have all of them appeared already in tho Bulletin or other journals. Some of them are worthy of Jerome K. Jerome and remind one of that writer’s “Idle Thoughts of an Idle Fellow,” especially the sketches of the merino sheep, the bullock, tho dog, tho cat. and tho amateur gardener, all of which are genuinely humorous.