RECENT FICTION.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2205, 18 July 1914, Page 9

RECENT FICTION.

"THE" GOSPEL ACCORDING TO 1 MARTHA.!' . , ; • ;' , : "The Book of Martha," by the , Hon. Mrs. Dowdall (Duckworth and Co.; per George Robertson and Co.), is a strikingly witty and amusing production. The author, assuming the character of ■a young married lady, of what in England is called the upper middle : class, describes a long series of , experiences,' pleasant and unpleasant, curious and sometimes mildly exciting, which befall her in her role as household manager. Mrs.-Dowdall'e sketches of cooks, housemaids, butlers, lady's-maids, gardeners, etc., - are deftly and sharply-..drawn, and the air of philosophic resignation with which the moich-harassed mistress contemplates the doings and misdoings of her domestic staff is. vastly' amusing. Mr. Pett Ridge himself, who has a certain reputation'as a limner of life as it exists—aaid is criticised—in .the servants' hall, has never been happier or more mirth-provoking than can be, on occasion, Mrs. Dowdall. But the author does not exerciso her ability for satire upon the servants alone. ShVcan.be gaily yet 'gently humorous on the peculiarities • of husband's,. and neighbours, and is equally happy in her descriptions of the trials of "house-moving, of "shopping in London" (at a Universal Provider's establishment), and of melting the of "county society" when newcomers are concerned, as she is when playfully satirising certain professional traits of fashionable doctors, enlarging upon the difficulties of superintending the work of a new governess, or battling with the hundrea-and one small worries'' attaching to foreign travel. The subjects doalt with may appear somewhat trivial, but it is the way they are dealt with that counts. Without any palpable' striving after humorous*effect, Mrs. Powd'all; succeeds in making the perusal of her book one long- chuckle. I, specially commend to lady readers her description of a dinnei party and the domestic disorganisation produced by that event. In a semiserious- vein, the chapter headed "Genius," a study of a supremely selfish and very conceited would-be litterateur, is almost flawless ■Sβ a piece ' of telling satire.. Male readers as.well as ladies will relish Mrs. Dowdall's wit, but a full appreciation of its photographic realism should come from a feminine audience. ' A capital book. (Price 65.) "DOC WILLIAMS." ./i'h'o background of Charles H. Le'rrigo's amusing story, "i)oc Williams" (Fleming H. Rcvell Co.; per GeorgeRobertson and Co.), is a little township in-one of the Middle Western States, but thero .-, is a. keen savour of an old-fashioned ; dry . Yankee humour in it, the humour which is : more generally associated with a New England atmosphere. The story of the good-hearted, self-deluding quack, "Doc" Williams, whoso cures, attributed by him to his marvellous "healing oil," bring prosperity to the quiet jittlo village of Latham's Corners, reminds me not a little oi "David Ha'nim," and at times, also, of Joseph C. Lincoln's entertaining stories of the Capo Cod folk. But Mr. Lcrrigo can claim credit for full originality in the character of the humorous old quack doctor, whose homely philosophy of life, , 'expressed in such terso and quaint speech, is almost as much admired by hie patients as his supposedly deep knowledge of tho healing art.' Tho doctor doesn't in tho least mind being called a quick.' . Ho is supremely indifferent to the jeers of tho qualified practitioners. ■ "Art'e- all," he philosophises, "theero ain't nothing .in medical science, as is so plumb dift'-ruiit f'm good plain common sense, ye understan' me." ; ; When, too, he fails, he can console himself by expressing himself as follows:—"Tjmes I-think tain't His way to have pain ceased too suddeut, ye understaii' me." A kindly-hearted old man, he' adopts' a friendless, nameless'lad, and sends him to college, and makes a "real doctor" of him. Tho lad simply worships his benefactor, hut tho

time comes when there is a severe stmgglo in his heart between loyalty to "Doc" and the distract, bred by his superior education, of his foster father's charlatanry. Add, too, an attachment between'tho young man and the daughter of a kindly, but severely professional, doctor, and the machinations of a rascally professor of hypnotism, and it will bo seen that there are substantial ingredionts for the construction of a story plot. "Doc' Williams" may he commended as a most enjoyable story. The mystery of young David s parentage and the hunt after a fortune, tho love story of the Sad Lady, who, in tho end, becomes the Glad Lady, keep the reader, interested throughout, but it is when tho delightful old "Doo" is on the stage that the applause will be loudest. "THE RED VIRGIN." Of "The Red Virgin," by G, F. Turner (Hodder and Stoughton,'per.Whitcombe and Tombs), it may bo said at once that it is one of the best stories we have ever hadin what is known as the Ruritanian genre; indeed, by many readers it may bo voted equal, if not superior to, the "Prisoner or ijenda" itself. There is an all-abounding vitality and aitrain about the story of the court intrigues of Grimland which is most fascinating. Mr. Turner's picture of the Rathsherren, a. council of reactionary, and for the most part intensely stupid, noblemen, 'solemnly debating the question of the Grimland succession over huge pots of beer, provided, according to ancient custom, .by tho _ court", brewer, makes a. promisingly , original start for a plot, which' is rich in dramatic surprises. The heroine is at once a most extraordinary and yet admirable figure, an Anarchiet in her hatred of monarchy, yet constrained to assist the king's friends by impulses -she hardly desires io resist, The story simply blazes with exciting incidents, the clash of, arms is in every chapter, certain of. the female characters acting an Amazonian role. There is ample material in "The Red Virgin" for the .making of. a good half-dozen romantic dramas, and yet a peculiar quality of the .book isthe impression created in the mind of the reader that all these,strange happenings arenot in the least out of ,touch-with .everyday life. Mr. Turner must be congratulated upon what is one of the most original and striking novels that we have had this; year. . - -. "GARDEN OATS." •Alice Herbert, the author'of "Garden Oats" (John Lane), has written a very clever, almost brilliantly clever,, study of tho girlhood and early experiences in matrimony of a very lively and likeable -'heroine. Mark Twain wrote about "a human boy." Olive Latimer is a very "human girl." Daughter of a eelfish old Indian colonel, she ie brought up by relatives, sont to school in Belgium, returns to '! England and- finally settles down ae a sort of guest-companion with an,aunt. Then she marries, and after a-while is tempted to flirt, and comes dangerously near ruining her life. She is rescued,. however, from disaster by a-worldly, but good-natured woman, and settles down to true happiness with a' husband she had hitherto never .quite understood. She has sown her wild oats, and her worldlyrwise friend tells her to "be thankful they, were only garden, oafcs." The. charm of the etory lies in its character drawing. Girl friends,. boy friends, , adult'friends of Olive Latimer, one, seems to recognise them all as portraits from real life.'Here for once are no ■ stagey, puppets. The author has,'too',' a/rich vein of unforced humour, and her dialogue is often ae it is &,stinctly fresh and fascinating, Lovers, of tho sensational, im'ay'ivote. "GaVdenVOats" -.unsatisfying but those "who can appreciate ai ireal distinction.of style and a;quite remarkable gift for I :.character 'drawing, will' find in "Garden- Oats"'a rare treat.'