SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2711, 4 March 1916, Page 9

SOME RECENT FICTION

"IN BRIEF AUTHORITY." Mr. Anstey is scarcely at his best in his latest novel,. "In Brief Authority" (Mothuen and Co.), but the author of. "Vice Versa" and "The Giant's Robe," .could not well be dull if he tried. _ It is scarcely his fault if the central idea of his story, threefourths of which he tells us, was written before the war, .is "inseparably connected with certain .characters and incidents of German origin." It may be quite true, as he says, that it is "difficult to believe that the nursery friends of our youth could ever be regarded as enemies," but the faot remains that the very name of German stands today to the, average Englishman synonomous with the most disgusting criminality and open and deliberate barbarism. It had been better, perhaps, had the publication of the story been deferred tintil tho war has been over a year or two. All this having been ' said, it is only fair to acknowledge the ingenuity with which Mr. Anstey plays on his old theme of transporting the most commonplace of mortals into an atmosphere of faery. The WibberleySimpsons are almost as good in their own w<vy as our old friends, Mr. Bultitude and Dr. Grimstone, and _ the Prussian nobleman who is the villain of the piece is an unoommonlv good specimen of the "blonde beast" species. The concluding chapters, in which the war is introduced, seein to be a little out of key with the major part of the story, a fact due, no doubt, to the author having been too anxious to givo the story a more topical flavour. Mr. Anstey gets some excellent fun out of his imaginary German kingdom of Slarchenland, and the court and citizens of Eswareinmal. Some indirect references to English political parties might well, however, have been omitted. "THE DUST OF LIFE." Cedric Essex and Roger Hereford, the two leading figures in Mr. Joseph Hocking's new story, • "The Dust of Life" (Cassell and So.; per "Whit-combe and Tombs), are sworn friends and allies. But Roger, alas, is a traitor from'the start, and jealous of Cedric's personal popularity at school, plots tho latter's downfall, securing his expulsion from Rugchester upon a peculiarly disgraceful oharge. Later on, when Cedric rescues from, drowning, and falls in lovo with, a charming young lady down in Cornwall, Roger again plays' traitor, and stealthily makes public poor Cedric's unmerited disgrace. Tho hero then goes, first to Canada, and next to Central Africa, where he is oonvorted to the Christian faith by a native who cures him of the sleeping sickness by the "dust of- life," otherwise radium. Cedric returns to England, but is still (pursued by his mysterious hidden foe, who spreads abroad the most slanderous statements concerning his honesty. Eventually the truth comes out that the. slanderer. is" none other than tho supposedly "trusty" .friend, Hereford. The hero, who becomes enormously wealthy through his discovery of an immense 6tore of Tadium—tho "dust of life"—forgives his enemy, and marries tho young lady, whose affection for him the rascally Hereford had attempted to undermine. Mr. Hosking is a practised story-teller, and his latest novel, albeit, perhaps, the villainous Hereford ,is a trifle stagey, is a woll-told and interesting story. "PALS FIRST." Mr. Francis P. Elliott's novel, "Pals first" (Harper and Brothers; per D. 0. Ramsay and Co.), is a decidedly original and interesting story, the hero of which, a young Southern gentleman, long absent from his home, returns thereto as a common tramp, but is immediately recognised ns the long-miss-ing heir by a couple of faithful old negro servants. His companion, 'an English clergyman, who has fled from his native land, being falsely accused of murdering his wife, believes his companion to be really a tramp, ex-crim-mal and adventurer, but nevertheless aids him in outwitting a rascally doctor who desires to secure, tho property and rob tho young lady to whom, in the event of the missing owner's death being proved, it would fall. The author displays considerable, ingenuity in so elaborating the mystery as to the hero's real identity that tho reader receives a very genuine surprise when he learns that the supposed tramp and l'mposter is, after all. the Simon Pure. Quito an out of the ordinarv story is "Pals First," and well worth readme. "MY CANAGA;" _ "My Canada," by Elinor. Marsden Eliot (Hodder and Stoughton; per S. and W, Mackay) is a story of Canadian life, _ told . in letters written to her friends in England by a j'ouiig English woman who goes out to Canada in search of new interests, and with tho hope of adding to her small income. The heroine goes out to the North-West, and as a companion-help and in other capacities meets with many curious experiences, the recital of which, accompanied ,by many piquantly interesting character sketches of tho people with whom she comes into contact, makes very pleasant reading. In the end, wo leave tho lady engaged to a very eligible young and much in love with lier adopted country. As a description of farm life in Western, Canada, and of the opportunities for advancement which tho Dominion offers to educated Englishwomen who will adapt themselves to the special conditions of colonial life, Miss Eliot's story is a highly successful effort. The book contains several illustrations of Canadian scenery. WAT GOULD. What is the explanation of the wide popularity of the novels of Nat Gould? This question is easily answered. They appeal to the average Britisher's lovo of clean sport; they tell a plain story in plain words; they do not worry tho muids of their readers with intricate plots or complicated moral problems. It is all plain-sailing from beginning to end. After a period of trouble and stress virtue moves surely on to its ultimate vindication. Nat Gould's description of a horse race or a crickot match is full of life. A little love-mak-ing and a littlo villainy are thrown in to complete the picture, and one is never deprived of the satisfaction of u happy ending. These characteristics aro attractively displayed in "Never in Doubt," "Left in the Lurch," and "A Member of Tatts," three good sporting stories by Nat Gould, published by Jobn Long, Ltd., London. "GREATER THAN THE GREATEST," "Glory and greatness! But greater than greatness is love." These are tho closing lines of Mr. Hamilton Drtimmond'a fine historical romance. "Greater

Than the Greatest" (Stanley Paul and Co.), in which it is shown that a man may sacrifice worldly honours and glory, but rightly count "the world well lost for love." The scone is cast in Rome in the Middlo Ages, tho heroine, Bianca Pandoni, being a nobly-born, beautiful, but poor young girl, whom an intriguing Cardinal, her uncle, brings to Rome to play a prominent role in his cunninglydevised scheme to achieve the supremo Papal honour. How the Cardinal's scbome is rivalled by one devised by the Emperor Frederick the Second, how the latter's famous captain and devoted servant, Luca Alvano, spoils both plots, and how the much-tried Bianca Pandone rewards him for a love which rises superior to all consideration of personal and worldly aggrandisement, is told in a long and carefully-constructed romance, which makes excellent reading.