SOME RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1931, 13 December 1913, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION.

A "BANNED." NOVEL. I am a great admirer of some of clever Mr. W. B. Maxwell's work— "Tho, Unguarded Flame" for instance. T would rank very high in recent English fiction —but J confess 'that I cannot bring myself to blame tho muchabused libraries lor having."banned"--at least for unrestricted circulation— the author's latest novel, the. niuchdiscussed "Devil's Garden" (Hutchinson and Co.; • per' Whitcombo and Tombs). Tho book is not immoral in tho generally-accepted sense of a muchabused word. On the contrary, the chief sinner, a nauseously oleaginous, canting member of Parliament, who is in private life lust personified, is unmercifully satirised and exposed in all bis evil colours. But the realism of certain incidents unfits the story for general reading—it is certainly 110 novel pour les jounes lilies. Tho plot turns upon tho discovery, by a rather stupid but honest village postmaster, that liiij wife has been the mistress of a foulminded old roue that iiis own cscapo from dismissal from his post for official discourtesy and an outburst of bad temper, is duo to his wife's sacrifico of her own and her husband's honour. William Dale is a man of crude, elementary passions, and lie deliberately murders tho disgusting M.P. But later on tho avenger of his own htnour is himself dominated by an outburst of sexual passion, and he now regards the wicked Barradiiic from an entirely new point of view. What is tho culminating result of _ ttiis later working of Dale's curiously complicated mind 1 will not attempt to describe. Tho book is strong in character-drawing and is undoubtedly a fine example of the realistic treatment of human passions. But it leaves a nasty taste in the mouth, and I for 0110 would wish Mr. Maxwell had never written it, so generally nauseous is its leading motif. Miss Braddon's clever son can, and ought, to givo his admirers some much more wholesome stuff than "The Devil's Garden."

A NEW "JOSEPH LINCOLN BOOK." I always enjoy a now story from the pen of that amusing writer, that true humourist, Mr. Joseph Lincoln, the author of "Captain Warren's Wards," of "The Postmaster," and so many other highly entertaining stories of the quaint spoken, and yet quainter mannered, "Capo Cod Folks." In his latest story, "Mr.. Pratt's Patients" (Appleion and Co., per George Robertson and Co.), Mr. Lincoln gives us yet another novel which is a sure antidote tb melancholy, so vastly .amusing are its pictures of the curious and laughter-provoking experiences of our old friend, Mr. Pratt, a retired mariner who is as droll a character as any even Mr. Jacobs has drawn. From the moment when Mr. Pratt anchors his dory off the grounds o! tho "ISca Breeze Bluff Sanitarium for Kighfc Living and Host," to the final scene, in which he exposes the clever charlatan, Doctor Lysander P. Wool, and straightens out the rather tangled love story of Professor Quill and the nealtliy and eccentric Miss Emmeline,. Mr. Lincoln's story is just one long laugh. As a cure for the doleful dumps, if any unhappy people there may be so afflicted during the coming holiday season, "Mr. Pratt's Patients" may be safely recommended. Illustrations ■ by Horace Heath. ...... "THE JOY BRINGER." Another good new American novel this week is "Tho Joy Bringer," a. tale of the Painted Desert-, hv Grace M'Gowan Cooke (Doubleday, Page and Co., per George Robertson and: Co.). Miss Cooke, whoso previous story, "Tho Power and the Glory," found many admirers amongst New Zealand readers, has been fortunate in discovering a comparatively no\ ? cl, and certainly not, as yet, overworked background for her story, to wit-, the region of the Hopi Indian cliff-dwellers on tho borders of the great Arizona desert. The novel has an ingenious plot, the leading feature being tho elopement of a handsome and high-spirited Kentucky girl with a young man who comes home from his lonely trading station out West.. Tho author may strain probability a little in making her heroine elopu with the wrong man, for it was with Julius, not Heath Crittenden, that she intended to leave her home, but her subsequent fortunes are so exciting and so well told that one soon forgets Llie.improbability of tho opening episode! Crittenden is u typical big-heai ted Westerner, uud although for some time the maningo is one in inline only,'the denouement, is eminently satisfaetorv. A special feature of tho story is .its picturesque and highly original local colour. The author has evidently made a close study of the curious Indian race, tlic Hopi, and has cleverly utilised some very interesting ethnological detail, Quito au out-of-the-way?:.: story,

in'''more ! senses.; thauibne," Joy Uringer,",. nnd.!.on'e> l ,wc!l-;;'wor i v!i,,readin;:.,: ■ A STORY OF COLONIAL I 'LIFE.S' Mr. Dugald-Fcrgus'onpwliose interesting eflorU iu.'-versc/'aiid* studies' of colonial life. ("Bush Life") have deservedly:,ach.;eral popularity, has now-; written' afsloiigVahd liitich-cictailed storyp,! , ilates!'-(llodiler amrStoughton per p." and . : W':'.'lUriel;ay) v '--'l lie story re-, latcs. tlio ,varied experiences,-'jn,/ Australia'aml New Zealand; of, two friends,- two Scots,-; Dav'd ;' I,oekhead,lau(l- Jock Dalryinple.;!'"For,the riiujor-pnr'tVof .'lie storythe. scene is . laid- on. mi ,-'A,iist'raliaii station; .thcxta'sing"episodes,'*however, taking placejin .Noii'/kealaiJjdr^lr."Ferguson has li/dcsidcd ability- for the description : of -'up-countryJii'o 'and-, character, and although tlie.. story "has its longueurs —Use author being too generous with his details and occasionally too prone to ■ ir- • dulge in lay sermons —it possesses -'-"jm small interest and', value as providing a series of 'carefully'-wrought l pictures of pioneer life.: David'lias iu.his character a vein of something-': near' akin, to priggishtiess, and tho selfish.and-.intrigumg Mrs Townseud belongs too clearly to'the "Bow Bells" and ."London Journal"., class.of fiction to. be-altogether convincing. .'- iiut the :Australiau and New: Zealand up-country- scenes display ~ evidence of first-hand' knowledge,...and;; are "brightly .'and vigorously described,'and although.the. : 'story, would..have! been, the better - Tor-■ some compression." it .should rank"high-as;a picture-of'-colonial life, and thesuccess '. it- deserves : "to ■ attain with the. reading "public, will, : ; I. trust, entourage Mr. Ferguson', to' "still 'further' draw upon his stock-,of .interesting reminiscences' But theVtendenev .to moralise should be sternly, repressed-/ ;

'' Mr. :'"William 1 W riothesley,'- the author of ■■"The ■Am l>assadress". : .(\V i lliam Heine-: nuum; per (Jleorgcj-Hobenson and Co.), gives, a very.:.lively I ,i. if;in places rather ill-natured, picture 'of diplomatic and '•smart" society' in': present-day Berlin. Tho Ambassadress ■' herself," Lady Angelica. Forth, a' woman of .great beauty, of considerable shrewdness,- but no little eccentricity,-both of manner and speech, •has a step-daughter,' Alexandra Forth, who has reached- tho age of thirty, although an . amiable'and very charming woman, without finding a suitor. At Berlin she .is duly -."hiuiicikd" by tho Ambassadress into -aristocratic society, awl meets an Austrian nobleman, Furst Lichtenfcld, a.gentleman of high birth, who has dissipated lijfs fortune and has had many disreputable,"adventures," hefore ho sets to work to make love, to the gentle English lady : who, in'error, ho imagines to be. a - great heiress. Truth to tell, Lichtenfeld'is.a. selfish "bounder," for all his long..pedigreo and his supercilious eontempt-for all who are not "isoclnindwohtgeborneii,". and the end of poor Alexandra's love story is rather sad. The novel is somewhat spun out, but the dialogue is brightly written, and some of the author's satirical hits at tho, social celebrities to. whom bo introduces his.readers are decidedly entertaining. ■