REVIEWS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XLIX, Issue 16, 16 April 1913, Page 45

REVIEWS.

The New rbuanty Da’npty : By Daniel Chaucer. (London: John Lane. Auckland: Upton an.! Co. 3/6.) “The Simple Life. Limited," proved Mr Daniel Chaucer to be a witty and an accomplished writer. “The New Humpty Dumpty" proves that there are no heights in fiction that he cannot reach. “The New Humpty Dumpty" is mainly the history of an idealist, one Sergius Mihailovitcli, who sacrificed his life in. the attempt to establish the deposed young King of Galizia on his throne, after sacrificing two fortunes to the Socialist Movement. Exactly what we admire most in this superbly written story it is difficult to say. Nothing could be more diverse than the character of the dramatis personae that figure in this (exciting and thrilling human drama. Yet each are drawn with a vividness-and a completeness that is marvellous when

one considers how numerous they are. Imagine a young King, who hasn't a soul above mechanism, a sordid American millionaire, a stingy Queen Mother, an English Lord and Lady, a second-rate, plebeian journalist, who suffers from swelled-head, a beauty actress, a co-

cotte. an impossible, out of England, chauffeur, and an idealist in conspiracy to put a penniless King upon a disputed throne in a semi-barbaric country, and you, my readers, may guess the sort of maze Mr Chaucer will lead you through ‘before his King is safely seated upon his ancestral throne. Mr Chesterton, some years ago, raised the very pertinent query as to: What was wrong with the world? Mr Chaucer shows very clearly what is wrong with it. He is brilliantly satiric on modernity, on the modern way divorces are procured, modern company promoting, modern movements, etc. In short, the book is a mordant satire on most of the evils and follies of the day. I have read no more brilliant novel tins

The Recording; Angel : By Corra Harris. (London: Constable and -Co. Auckland: Upton and Co.) 'No story that I can remember ever brought-home so clearly to me the apathy into which the majority- of the Southern States fell after the abolition of slavery as this story of "The Recording Angel," whose scenes are laid way down in Georgia. With wonderful fidelity to type, and with rare sympathy, the author has limned a series'of portraits of the inhabitants of the little, sleepy town of Ruckersville, in Georgia. Ruckersville had stood still for nearly a century until Jim Bone, the scallywag of the place, bad returned from the gold diggings a wealthy man. Bone had left ■under a cloud, and would probably have left Ruckersville again under another cloud but for meeting Sylvia Story, with -whom he fell in love. Then Bone got to work, and, helped by the “Recording Angel,” one Amy White, roused the Ruckersvilleites to a sense of what they owed to the town and themselves. Fot the explanation of the book’s title, and for the details of the marvellous changes Bone effected, we refer readers to the story, which is indeed as eminently interesting .as it is uplifting, and is, moreover, a vdry fine piece of writing, literally abounding in the passages of wit and wisdom and snbtle meaning designated as epigram. The Love Dream ; By George Vane fLondon: John Lane. Auckland: Vpton and Co. 3/6.j Tliih is a story of auto-suggestion. Laurance ‘Drury, youngest son of the iEarl of liargate, and Baldassre di Monreale, son of the Italian Ambassador at St. James', are both In love with Hedwig ■Brancyz, a woman of light reputation. Drury and Baldassre bare been fast friends since their Eton days, and Baldassre, seeing Drury so deeply infatuated, tries to open his eyes to Hedwig's absolute unworthiness. At this juncture, Hedwig, -pretending to fear Baldassre, and, in reality, wanting him out of lier way, that she may marry Drury, exclaims paosionately in Drury’s hearing for deliverance from Baldassre. Thereupon, Drury, impelled by some evil force, goes to Baldassre’s rooms and

shoots him. Though suspicion falls on Drury, it cannot be proved that he committed the deed, a.id he is acquitted. But Baldassre’s mother is convinced that Drury had murdered her son. and, being a Sicilian, registers a vow to bring the murder home to him. Though acquitted, Drury is sent to Coventry bysociety, and he is advised by the English Ambassador at Vienna, of which Embassy he is .an attache, to resign his post. By the death of his brother, Drury becomes Earl of Margate, but not until he had made the irretrievable mistake of marrying Hedwig. On his return to England he is cut by the country. though by this time Hedwig has left him for a wealthy Russian. The rest of the story concerns the son of the unfortunate marriage and the carrying out of the vendetta. Lord Margate by this time has come to think himself innocent of the murder, considering that it was committed under auto-sugges-tion. But- we are not. in justice to the author, going to divulge any more of this uncommonly told story, which ends much more pleasurably than this inadequate outline would seem to indicate. Lovers either of sentiment or tragedywill be more than satisfied by an investment in “The Love Dream” of Laurance Drurv’s onlv child.