The Library Corner

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXII, Issue 19432, 17 October 1925, Page 17 (Supplement)

The Library Corner

By

“Bibliophile”

‘Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed. and some few to be chewed and digested.”—Bacon. I

“SEA LAVENDER.’’ (By SIDNEY FLOYD GOWING; London, Messrs. Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd.) This is not the first time Mr. Sidney Floyd Gowiug has written a gay and breezy novel, ami after reading “Sea Lavender” one hopes it will not be the last. The charming heroine, Lavinia Lorrimer, has been fully occupied until the ago of 28 in caring for her mother. A few brave men, it is hinted, have mildly interested themselves in Lavinia, but the mother has frightened them away, and the daughter has had only her dreams to fall back on. Though she has never seen the sea, she has an ideal strong and silent man keeping watch on his ship’s bridge. At 28 Lavinia loses her mother and inherits a fortune, and under the advice of the kindly family doctor she sets up in a seaside cottage and prepares to recover her girlhood. She befriends a charming young fellow, Cecil Goodchild, who has just escaped from gaol, where he has been “doing time” for a fraud actually committed by his twin brother. Monty. A pierrot troupe of ex-officers arrives, and Cecil, an old friend of theirs, joins them, while Lavinia becomes their patroness, saves them from starvation, and sees them well on the road to fame and fortune.

The escaped prisoner naturally is the centre of much thrilling ‘business,” and the arrival of his uncle, the youngest admiral in the British Navy.' leads to complications. In the end Monty docs the square thing, Cecil finds happiness, and Lavinia’s dream comes true. The story is not without its touch of pathos, but that just enhances the effectiveness of its hilarity and brightness. “Sea Lavender” is refreshing, and it contains no sex problem.

“THE PRAIRIE SHRINE.” (By ROBERT J. HORTON: London, Messrs Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd.) Stories of the American West bulk largely among the novels of to-day, and some of them, while thrilling enough in all conscience, are so wild that they become wearisome. “The Prairie Shrine” is not in this class. Certainly there is some shooting, and the law is rather hardly used, but the story as a whole is not frankly impossible, and its romantic interest is very tenderly handled. The scene is laid on the prairies of Montana, where ranching is giving way to farming, not without serious opposition on the part of the ranchers. The heroine, Annalee Bronson, who is only twenty-one, and her mother take up land, and incur the special wrath of the Caprons, whose cattle for some years have grazed over the country now allotted to the “homesteaders.” The head man in the Capron establishment is a bully and gunman, who seeks to intimidate the new settlers; but to their aid comes a strong character. Silent Scott, who is just a little better with his “gun” than the bully is. After . passing through strenuous adventures, Scott has to kill his man, but fortunately the law is able to wink at the occurrence, and at last all is well with the homesteaders. Of course romance creeps in among the thrills and quite satisfies the dramatic proprieties of the occasion. Mr. Horton constructs his story far more carefully than many of the “ Wild West” writers do, and it makes pleasant reading.

MR. MURRAY’S REPRINTS. FOUR VACHELL NOVELS. Mr. .Tohn Murray sends another parcel of his “2s net” reprints, all four of the volumes being by Mr. Horace A. Vachell. Fifteen or twenty years ago this prolific novelist was always a best seller, and his most recent new novels continue to command a very large “The Shadowy Third,” one of the new reprints, is described as “a study of a human soul, full of real discernment and sympathy.” “Her Son” is another of Mr. Vachell's powerful human stories, one that keeps the reader thoroughly absorbed. “The Face of Clay,” a story of the life of artists in Brittany, is full of unexpected developments. It deals with quaint and unconventional people, set in romantic surroundings doing romantic things. The fourth volume is one of the best-known of Vachcll’s books, “The Pinch of Prosperity,” originally published in serial form as “The House of Quest” and re-chris-tened for its permanent setting. It is quite worth reading again. “THE ROUND TABLE.” AN IMPORTANT NUMBER. The editor of “The Round Taolu” states that he has seldom had to deal with so many critical problems in* a single issue as he has in the September number of the Empire quarterlv. The first article is on the “Security Pact.” In the opinion of the “Round Table,” the preliminary correspondence between France and G,crmanv and between Mr. Chamberlain and NT. Briand shows a disposition on the part of the British Government to undertake too much. “The Gold Standard” follows up a previous article which attracted a good deal of attention in the March issue. The third article deals

| with a great world'problem. “China, ** and the prospects of British trade are as much bound up with it as with the adoption of a sound monetary policy. The fourth article, “British Industry and the Future,” comes at an opportune moment. The questions of world competition and unemployment are considered, special attention being given to the coal crisis. The next article is on. the crisis in “Morocco.” The issues, in so far as France is concerned, it is clear, go far beyond Morocco, beyond Africa itself, indeed, and the peculiar nature of her military and political difficulties is well brought, out. There are other special articles, and the Dominions’ current political events are described and also many of the special problems which are occupying attention. DOES WRITING PAY? AUTHORS’ FORTUNES. The reply to the question, “Does writing pay?’’’ can only be: “It depends on the writer.” If he can hit the public, taste he can make a fortune much larger than the £61,725 left by Sir Rider Haggard. And the public taste is an exceedingly curious quality. Charles Garvice left £71,000, but it has always been an open question whether his books could be called literature in the true sense of the word. Joseph Conrad, who came in a widely different category, only left £20,000, and Mrs. Humphrey Ward £11,300. Mrs. Ward’s earnings, however, were greatly in excess of the figure indicated by her estate. One of her novels alone. “ Helbeck of Bannisdale,” brought hoi £16,000. Even that is by no means a remarkable figure for a single book. Rostand received £250,000 for “Cyrano de Bergerac” and Daudet £40,000 for “Sapho.” On the other hand, George Eliot only made £BOOO out of “Middlemarch,” and Beaconsfield received £12,000 each for “Endymion” and “Lothair.” Charles Dickens, after he had made his name, was in receipt of an income of £lO,OOO a year from his books, and he left £BO,OOO on his death. Thomas Hardy, still happily with us, has been estimated to have made £250,000 out of his books. Victor Hugo left £200,000. On the other hand, George Meredith only left £32,000, Edna Lyall £25,000. and Marie Corelli, whose books enjoyed extraordinary popularity, left £24,000. Mr Winston Churchill once admitted that his war book brought him £15,000, but he hardly comes into the category.

LITERARY NOTES The growing popularity of .T. PT. Fabre's writings in England has led to the translation of two more of his books, “Our. Dumb Friends,” and “Farm Friends and Foes” ‘ sj: * Messrs Heinemann will shortly publish a novel, “The Haven,” by Mr Dale Collins, the young Melbourne journalist, whose book, “Ordeal,” was so successful recently. Professor E. G. Browne’s “Persian Literature in Modern Times, A.D, 15001924,” completes the task which its author undertook more than twentytwo years ago of writing a literary history of Persia from the earliest times to the present day. He has taken four volumes to cover the entire period. Strange to say, many of Thackeray’s letters still remtain unpublished, some of them dealing with the most important period in his career. A selection of them, compiled by O. C. Goodyear, is to be published shortly by Murray.

Constables have a new volume, called “Dialogue in Limbo,” appearing from the pen of Mr George Sant&jntarf. His position among essayists is the more notable bedause, like Joseph Courad, he is a foreigner who has chosen English as his medium of expression. He is a Spaniard, and from Spain he went to America, and then, after a time, he camo to England. His Soliloquies in England” includes a study of Charles Dickens, which hlas commanded a wide interest, and his “Scepticism and Animal Faith” includes a statement of his own philosophy. “Dialogues in Limbo” consists of imaginary conversations with the shades of Democritus, Alcibiades, Socrates, and other high figures of the past.

No one knows the history of Versailles and its palaces better thlan M. Pierre de NoHme. the keener of the 'dace. A book by him on “The Trianon of Marie Antoinette” will appear in English this winter through Mr Fisher Unwin. It tells the story of the building of the two Trianons by Louis XIV. and Louis XV., and of the reconstruction of the gardens by Mario Antoinette ’ with an extravagance that may have hastened the fall of the monarchy. M. de Nolhac has no scandals to relate, but he writes of the Queen and her amusements — her theatricals, her dances, her model farm, where she acted the dairymaid—and of her friends, with intimate knowledge and a Frenchman’s lightness of toucU