BOOKS REVIEWED.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 57, Issue 255, 9 August 1937, Page 3

BOOKS REVIEWED.

A WELLE SCANLAN NOVEL. “LEISURE FOR. LIVING.” Nelle M. Scanlan has added to the list of works from her pen by writing i another dealing with life in New Zealand. It is entitled “Leisure for Living,” and is published by Robert Hale and Company, London. The story, the scene of which opens in Wellington, derives its title from the philosophy of one of the characters that life is not work, one must have leisure for living. Acting on this code he is always scheming how to acquire wealth by impracticable means. Uncle Mortimer, taking up his abode with his widow and sister and her two sons and two daughters rules their lives according to his formula. In pursuit of wealth he finally persuades the whole family to go to London. Here the crisis comes when the widow’s capital is all expended. Miss Scanlan has depicted her characters Hvith that touch which has made her previous books popular and the story fis well constructed. AN AUSTRALIAN STORY. I Life in the Queensland, canefields, in a coastal town, along the waterfront •and at sea out to the Barrier, forms the 'background for “Legend of Sanderson ’ ;‘by Vance Palmer, published by Angus and Robertson, Ltd. The characters are varied: Fleetingly, the old Sanderson, once contractor, employer of men, roadbuilder and Cabinet Minister; then, the novel’s leading character, his son Neil, with the legend of his father’s not unmixed reputation influencing his life; Neil’s older, sardonic companion Besanck; the girls Freda and Myra and Their effects upon the lives and companionship of the two men; and characters like the old boat-builder, “the woman at Cayley’s,” the journalist Corcoran. The plot is an interesting one and the incidents are well presented. But the story is marred by an excess of introspection on the part of the two principal male characters. For this reason they do not appeal to the reader as friends parting with whom brings a tinge of personal regret.