SOME RECENT NOVELS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12087, 16 August 1917, Page 8

SOME RECENT NOVELS.

South Africa, just when the trouble was browing that culminated in the illstarred Jameson mid, is the scene of Horace Rose's sensational and far from ment and a betrayal, of which II a doe is and Stoughton). It opens with an elopement and a betrayal, of wheh lladec s the result. All the usual elements of such tragedies are here, the fascinating girl whose belief in lovo-and-the-woiid-well-lost receives a jolt when the alleged lore is shown to be nonexistent, the unscrupulous villain—there are at least a, vigorous couple of these —the jilted lover, the old' family servant in the rolo of avenger. Mr Rose has a habit of sententious dissertation that does not particularly assist the progress of the story or add to tho sura of the world's knowledge, and he strains the muscles of tho ''"long arm of coincidence." And ho might have, called his story " Revenge on the Rand " or a number of other equally appropriate things, because the child Haideo does not figure very prominently. Despite all this, however, Mr Rose keeps his reader interested, and ho would he even more successful with a less hackneyed "scenario." There is a vivid and convincing picture of tho raid and its collapse, also the collapse of the principal villain is a thriller. In "That Red-haired Girl," by Louse Heilgers (London: Herbert Jenkens), Julia, tho demure gold-and-pink little, milliner, loves Dick, the. dashing artist. Neither has much money, but tho course, of true love runs smooth till the appearance, of Julia's friend, tho red-headed Sbeila. Part of what happens may be guessed from the fact that, in about a fortnight Dick is found standing on the church steps waiting for Sheila to come and marry him. However, the naivo beauty doesn't appear. Then Julia ''comes into money" and there is a comedy of errors in which the red-beaded girl takes a prominent part. Slio has what is sometimes described as " the cheek of a highwayman," and while she is about thero is not much monotony. The sex that 'is interested in millinery will appreciate this effervescent story, and some of the other sex may learn something from a study of Sheila's career.