Books and Bookmen,

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLI, Issue 26, 30 December 1908, Page 44

Books and Bookmen,

The House of the Crickets: Katharine Tynan. (London: George Bell and Sons. )

Though infinitely pathetic in parts, this story is the most eminently readabb we have reviewed for many a day. That fatherhood should entitle any man of tile ealibre of the “Patrick Moore” of this book to hold a whole grown-up family in thrall is monstrous and unthinkable, and were we not acquainted with the fact that Patrick Moore has more than one living prototype, we should doubt that such a state of things could exist in this twentieth century. The scene of the story is laid in Dunveagh, Ireland, where aPtriek Moore,a small tenant fanner, lived with his wife and his four grown-up children. Mean and sordid, both in person and mind, Patrick Moore's ingenuity was constantly being taxed in order to invent fresh cruelties to inflict on his unoffending family, including his wife, who had gradually become a confirmed invalid, partly from lack of attention to her liodily complaints, and partly through insufficient nourishment both of body and soul. At the time this story opens, Hannah Moore, the book’s heroine, is about to be taken in hand by the nuns of the Convent of Dunveagh, she being the possessor of a beautiful voice. But Hannah is loth to leave her brother Michael, to whom she is all in all, for strange to say, these unloved children of loveless parents were strongly attached to one another. “ Shamus,” an other brother, who had in him the makings of a poet, had taken to drink, in order to drown his misery, and “ Julia,” who was the beauty, and the most spirited of the family, had betrothed herself to a villainous old moneylender, in order to obtain the wherewithal to purchase the delicate food and the fine raiment her soul so delighted in. Of the innumerable cruelties and indignities inflicted upon his family by Patrick Moore, space will not allow us to more than chronicle the fact that they were of hourly and daily occurrence. But just when things looked most hopeless, love came along. and the story ends with Mrs, Moore and Shamus dead of maladies that could not bo healed, and Michael, Hannah and Julia happily married, and Patrick Moore living as he ought always to have lived —alone. This book, which ran serially through the “ Times ’’ weekly edition, contains more than one example of splendid characterisation. The virtuous, the shiftless, and the superstitious side of the Irish character are faithfully and naturally depicted, and as we close the book we feel grateful to its author for a book which — though sad enough in alt conscience—is as wholesome and as uplifting a book as any we have ever read of Irish life and character.

Jcar. of Garioch: Albert Kinross ( Ijondon: Macmillan and Co., St Martin’s-street.

A capitally-written book, in which a most uncommon love story marches hand in hand with adventures of an English war correspondent, who had been sent out to the Baltic provinces by his editor to watch the course of the revolution of 1905. The book, while somewhat reminiscent of Mr Anthony Hope’s earlier style, has distinct merits of its own. Russia, we venture to think, would hardly be a safe place for Mr Kinross to venture in either as a newspaper correspondent 01 a lover in search of his mistress. That Grand Dukes and high officials, with an eye to personal safety or popularity, or to greater opulence, “would race with the hare and run with the hounds” to the extent Mr Kinross's Grand Dukes and high officials did, borders on the incredulous. And yet it is not the first time this has been alleged. Internecine strife is at all times a horror and a blot on the fair fame of any country. But internes cine strife deliberately brought about by the rulers of a country in order to • well their bank accounts is unnatural ami inonm-eivable. Either Mr Kinross i- a very well-informed man on Russian bureaucratic procedure, or he is a great romam ist of whom we hope to hear more. But Iwwmer sceptical we may be as to the voracity of Mr Kinross’s account of bureaucratic procedure, we cannot deny

the fascination of a book that has riveted our attention from cover to cover, and further stimulated our interest in the affairs of that most unhappy country. Our copy of this ingeniously conceived and highly adventurous story has been received from its publishers, Macmillan and Co.

The Hermit and the Wild Woman, and Other Stories: Edith Wharton. (London: Macmillan and Co., St. Martin’s-street.)

We had thought that nothing more dispiriting than “The Fruit of the Tree’’ could have been written by this author until we came to review “The Hermit and the Wild Woman,” which, we confess, has sadly tried our patience. With a world of cheerful types and themes to choose from, why will this author persist in presenting life’s failures when she might present its winged victories? Beautifully written in a chaste, matured style that is entirely her own, these later books of her’s depress where they are not thrown aside in impatient sorrow. To live up to ideals is meritorious; but minor music never inspired anyone to great deeds or victory. Of the seven short stories that comprise this book we prefer the story from which the book takes its title, which is written in superlatively beautiful language, and with a wealth of exquisite expression. Our copy has been received through the courtesy of Macmillan and Co., who are the book’s publishers.

Tlie Book of Animals and the Wonder Book for Girls and Boys: Edited by Harry Golding. (London and Melbourne: Ward, Lock and Co., Ltd.).

Never was there a time in which children were so splendidly catered for in the way of literature as to-day. And when we compare the old-time children’s hooks (with a few notable exceptions) with their crude colouring, nonsensical, make-believe stories, and generally inartistic get-up, we are both amazed and delighted with the literary- and artistic excellence of the two books now before us, and are tempted to wonder how it can be done at the price. For the talent of no mere tyro's in the realms of art and literature has been engaged in the making of " The ” Animal ” and “ Wonder-Books” and every page of them brims over with beauty, interest, amusement and sound instruction. In the “Animal Book ’ children may learn the appearance, habitat, virtues vices, and general characteristics of nearly every animal and bird under the sun. Some splendid papers are contributed by Professor W. Percival Westell, F.L.C., M.8.0.U., on butterflies, moths, birds, monkeys and deer, which, while giving children a thoroughly comprehensive idea of the animal, bird, or insect described, are easy to understand, and thoroughly interesting. Some delightfully- amusing poetry is contributed by Reginald Rigby, and E. S. Here is a specimen of Mr. Rigby’s whimsical humour, where he illustrates and becomes the mouthpiece of a fabulous bird he names “ The Serawk.” (lb, I am the serawk with the wonderful walk, And a voice like the rasp of files: When I open my beak, just to laugh or to speak, All the people can hear me for miles. The metre of the above will not be new to grown-up readers, but the theme is delightfully and satirically humorous. By a writer whose name is not appended we are told at last the true story of “The Lady- and the Tiger,’’ in which, according to the writer, the tiger has been greatly belied. We greatly recommend this highly ingenious new version to that multitude of readers who have been interested and tantalised by- the old. Louis Wain also is to the fore with an inimitable drawing of an inquisitive cat, which so perfectly expresses curiosity that the label attached is superfluous. The coloured illustrations, 12 in number, are really triumphs of colouring, and we ran imagine the ecstatic delight of the lucky youngster who is fortunate enough to become the recipient of a copy. The Wonder Book, which is written for

younger children, is also profusely and charmingly illustrated. Here again Mr Rigby is happy both in illustration and verse. To a eleverly-drawn picture of a Russian bear in uniform is appended :

"Major Polar Bruinoff A Russian and a dandy; He looks as though he'd eat you up, Or anybody handy.”

"The Blue China Country” is a new version of the old story of the willow pattern plate brought up-to-date, by Agnes Grozier Herbertson, and which will be much appreciated by children acquainted with the old. English dolls, French dolls, German dolls, and Dutch dolls vie with each other for pride of place in the Wonder Book, and the drawings of horses, puppies, rabbits, and birds will make animal-loving children go wild with delight, so numerous, so beautifully, and so originally presented are. the specimens with which this book is adorned. The name of Fanny Moodie as a contributor must not be forgotten in this review, though a mention of her talent as a painter of eat and dog pictures is as superfluous as it would be in the case of Louis Wain, whose reputation in this particular branch of art is world-wide and unassailable. To atempt to do full justice to these two books would be impossible with the. space at our disposal. But we cannot imagine any gift more suitable or satisfying or pleasingly instructive or better worth the outlay than the Ward, Lock and Co. Animal and Wonder Books, which we have received through the courtesy of Messrs Wildman and Arev.

The Great Miss Driver : Anthony Hope. (London: Methuen and Co., 3G, Essex-street, W.C.) Seldom, indeed, have we made acquaintance with a heroine of such composite character as the Miss Driver of Anthony Hope’s latest book, “The Great Miss Driver.” Left, at the immature age of seventeen, a gigantic fortune, w’hich she had not been educated to spend, Miss Driver, guessing, but not personally acquainted with, her father’s unfulfilled ambitions, prepared to bring the county, iu which the late Nicholas Driver’s estate and large possessions lay, to her feet. For reasons which readers will discover for themselves when they come to read the book, Nicholas Driver had given his only daughter no inkling of the great fortune that was to.be hers at his death, and had placed the girl out to board with some very’ undesirable middle class people, and, in consequence of this, Miss Driver had formed at least one very objectionable acquaintance w’ho, later, ' was to cause her a great deal of trouble and sorrow. How this individual—described by Mr. Hope as looking like “a , beach photographer”—turns up, and by ’ his insinuations leads Lord Fillingford to break off his engagement w’ith Miss Driver, and how, while she has Lord Fillingford’s offer under consideration she plays fast and loose with “Leonard Octon” (whom she really loves but whom she will not marry, because she has been received by the county in consideration of her joining it in its boycott of Octon), and Lord Filingford’s son andj heir, must be read to be properly appreciated. So naturally is the plot worked out that it is with surprise, that at the close of the book the readerj finds that what promised to be a tangle too tangled to untie, smooths itself out naturally, leaving the great Miss Driver firmly, if forlornly, crowned as Queen of the County, and her now dead lover’s name rehabilitated in the county by the marriage of his daughter to Lord Filingford’s heir. As a striking example of the eternal feminine, Mr. Hope’s heroine would take sqme beating, and we are as much a slave to her charm as the most abject of her slaves. And though sometimes we thought the play a little long drawn out, it was with real regret that we saw the curtain rung down on the great Miss Driver and the dramatis personae who revolve round her like the satellites they are, by comparison with a character who in many way’s reminds us of “Good Queen Bess.” Our copy of the book has reached us through Messrs. Wildman and A rev.

DELTA.