NEW NOVELS

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22509, 17 September 1938, Page 20

NEW NOVELS

ARTIST IN CHAOS

Shadows Around ***££- 8 5 y 35 and Tombs Ltd.

M . ? e Pourtale,' novel is partly through many- distresses the m teeritv of his mind and his an. \-"i thl oassages about the war one of he S g fnte a resting describes Sir Henry Wilson, on whose staff M. de Pmirtales served as interpreter.) BufeveSs £ this book excitmg and important as they are, are sec ondarv to characters. Characters ar7 described with an objectivity more common in the English than the French novel. Apart from the sofdierf, these fall into The first is the family of the chief character, Paul de VU ars men and women who are gracious >/ultrvated, just, and unpractical. .Events _ aestroy their heritage, but not their wSdom and pride. The second is the croup of self-seekers,. business menwnoVofit by everything,, their domestic affairs, the war, their friends and the misfortunes of others The third group consists of de Villars and two women. Himself sensitive and Bnely moulded, he fears to degrade himself and his character by yielding to either woman ignobly, xne relations of these three persons are the most pitiful and moving part of "Shadows Around the Lake. Although the settings* the novel is extraordinary, the violence of the twentieth century, the theme is timeless. How best may human beings realise their noblest qualities? How preserve honour and independence? i To describe the novel thus is to pass over too lightly its merits as a description of this-century. Houses, furniture, hospitals, warfare, mountains, hotels, business, scenes of refinement and squalor, scenes of lust and ideal are the visible framework on which the feelings'of the characters are exposed. BLACK AND TAN The Troubled House. By Rosamond Jacob. George G. Harrap and Co. .Ltd. 271 pp. In a book reviewed on this page last year, "The Bise of the United Irishmen," Miss Jacob showed herself an accomplished historian, thorough and fair. Thoroughness and fairness, again, are the qualities of her "novel of Dublin in the 'twenties," in which she sets up before the reader, with dramatic justice, the conflict of thought and feeling that could, in one family, make a j father (pro-British) expel a son | (Republican), while another son | stands aloof from both as a pacifist. Miss Jacob's story is told in the, words of the wife and mother, who is given a certain detachment notonly by her love for the antagonists but by a long absence from Ireland. She returns to the centre of strife uninfected by its prejudices. The novel is episodically vigorous: it exposes the savagery of the. warfare between Republicans, arid Black and Tan troops. But its interest has a deeper source in the conflict of character', and character, motive 'and jrnotive. ■_■ ,_ h'"''an asey mayo story

Figure Away. By 1 ThoQhc "Atwood Taylor. Collins. 253 pp.

There is less of the pleasant flavour of Asey Mayo's personality in this story, less of the tang of the Cape Cod idiom. in word and humour, than in earlier books about a very likeable and clever detective. To make up for that, perhaps, Miss Taylor has heightened the sensationalism and the bizarre qualities of a very intricate crime puzzle. When murder threatens to ruin by hideous publicity the success of the Billingsford Old Home Week, Asey must •work in secret against a secret assassin. And what has; an effigy, dangling outside an antique shop, to do with the problem? The reader can only, take his hint from the title and "figure away."

ZWEIG AGAIN

The Crowning «'■ * b y -Awiif Zweiff. Martin Seeker and-WHw" burr Ltd. 524 pp. (9/6 MUy Through Whitcombe and T^i'j Ltd. \.v3| It * seems that Arnold Zwejjfiji "Education before Verdun" how missed the qualities that raided' "Sergeant Grischa" grip memory'»* 4 hard and close. "The a King," in the present reviejnifli |. opinion, does not miss them.'ljkj "Sergeant Grischa," it ds 2-J?odlri»'fj be read slowly. Zweig ltyM*sm builds with a deliberation , ri^fc(ji l f a

■ • >-i?p m AKSOUD ZWEIG '?& M

to be followed deliberately, .ISkit "Sergeant Grischa," it sets -*±J(?. correspondence, which the elabocwl ate detail strengthens, pointr bJif point, between a small issue and *i ereat one,, between a., personal; drama- and, the. battle of ,-ideas pndj ideals in which', -future -oft humanity hangs iiL-the balance. In** dividuals, upon of Zweig't s | have two measures, natural -anti isymbolic. In "Grischa' 1 the corjetf pondence was complete,-and &Bf£ communicated;, in betag Verdun" it "was perfectly expressed; in "The Crowm ing of a KingV it is agata-lfu]Lia§| pressive, absorbing,; urgent. WMri| the German* beat down,Rufna, %| military sind political gemusof vmt§ triumph was General Clausg. (Stodg ents of military history will identity! the original of the portrait.) On-ng| staff was Captain Winfried, aJtop ciple. an admirer, Wife fried'first came into collision OTaß| the administration- of -lapour > prison camps: the. simple duTereoeigj between humane and inhiimmg| methods divided them. Then, »fl| political question az.*um choice of the right royal pupptt fptj i Lithuania,: Teck or Hohen2olJ»{ji their division became wider-JBte? deeper; arid Winfried, in v ihe\gS developed and discovered in the force of principles.'that, nog* make him Clauses oppo«ite£lg3r enemy. Winfried against,. ClaWf that is, tolerance, liberalism,rlags*/ vidualism against Junkerwn,;jsjt& tyranny of the State, power-5«v:" tics. "" V£sllP&This is a splendid book, story,* a noble statement of issue,' as it is being throughout the world noble because, while- Zw «Dif"2B: is strong and admu*al»Wfejßig: : sense of justice, artistic tical, forbids him to see onlyftiiEg; and whites, virtues and the of hell. The study of Clauss &*&% nificent, for the strength of tfcJJj telligent lines that sympathise-jBR; approve as well as for condemn. '* eJSk^ The translation, by Eric Suttofc;;. reads very welL -'-#* DIPLOMATIC WORLD -M^, The Ambassadress. By Frances I**;inson Keyes. Eyre and woode. 439 pp. '^gjMrs Keyes sets a prodigious stagfc.* If she does not reach from to Peru, to be faithful to the jwg| she does from China to Washington, Paris, arid Londoa*»Wj ports in the journey that sents. Michael Trent is an'pqjgjfy in the United States consular «<g| vice. The story is that of his <?& m and his wife's, and its terest is that of the dangers tojpjfe unity,, arising partly from the edness of events and partly »°*!g the difference between her dards and Michael's. Mrs K*?* seems to set a rather higher P ential value upon Daphne than upafc her husband. But that, together* with 'the satisfactory ending < TT*V Michael, you've made up to me .for» everything": softly spoken), may ots accepted as one accepts the n ?* e . c l; a cushion or two in the funusninf of a room. The furniture here » opulent and luxurious. Mrs K*"? it seems, knows well the cities ana, circles of international <Hplomacj' Her readers have the full age of her knowledge. 3 , COLIN LOWRIE»S FARING -\ .Out of This Nettle. By Norsk ttgt Victor Gollanez Ltd. 445 PP- «■£' net) - | ' A mere youth, Colin "Lowrie ** forced to leave Scotland, a from the fate* of those who succours* the fugitives of Prince c . na ™j2 broken army. His ship fell in'"Aspirates; he was taken prisoner an»r sold into slavery on the West Ino l **'. I island of St. Crispin. Here, thougi the planter Standish, his master followed in his cool, cynical "**&* more humane code than his n fj£||* bours, Colin saw and felt the borrow of slave-life. Its indignity "* plumbed when his last reserve « freedom and happiness, in possess*; ing the love of a negro girl, w* B *" • vaded by a yellow-blooded In these plantation scenes Mrs *-*"?? l effects of remarkable v ""***?"jl ness, and does not quite reach "^ e ?? again; but that is counter-balanosp by the greater subtlety of terest which belongs to Colin* vr counter with Eulalia, the beau"*"* and extraordinarily capable nustraj* of the estates next tQ his own J» Virginia. For Colin was rescue*} f rom by the chances of ««• Seven Years' War, when the Fren» naval forces attacked the B* 1 "? islands; and his advance from bono-, age to a little empire of his ow was rapid. Eulalia fell in love wua him at sight;, but love went with them, and- by the time C°u» knew his will and his heart here* Eulalia knew that, having to <*po*f between Colin and Little EgyP* "her kingdom, her interests, her e»* periments, her slaves," she could n*» choose him. So Colin returnee w. Scotland and Braidlowrie, his taring over: "Ye'll come at last to yer journey's end, but not the way •J* think to." .„ 1 This novel is full of incid** strange, terrible, pathetic, and also sweet. There has been a strong, forming hand upon it. ;