SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2982, 20 January 1917, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"The Curtain of Fire." By Joseph Hooking (Hoddor and Stoughton). Thau Mr. Joseph Hocking tho ranks of present-day English novelists tontain no more practised and skilful story-teller, and in the tolling of -liis latest novel, a war story, Mr. Jiockiig is quite at his best, in a why tiic story is a sequel to its prodeces&or, "Dearer than Lifo," but it is quite, independent of that production in its motif and treatment. The scene is'laid ou the Wostorn front, in tho Yprea sector, the principal figures being two young English officers and two English nurses. One of the latter is captured by the enemy, whereupon her fiance determines to rescuo her, being assisted in his perilous venture by his friend, a young Cornishman, liotii, as goes without saying in a Hoclung story, being Cofnishmeu. >For a time tho second lady character, Avenel Trcsilian, who is also a nurse, is strongly suspected of boing a German 6py. The story of John Fortescue's disillusion on this point, for the suspected spy proves herself an angel in disguise, succeeding, by a series, of most ingenious ruses, in rescuing the imprisoned Miss Herncastle, and incidentally thwarting a deep laid scheme of tho enemy, is told by Air. Hocking in an eminently readabio and exciting story, in which, incidentally, the everyday work of the British soldier in the trenches is described most vividly.

"Much Ado About Peter." By Jean Webster (Hodder and Stoughton). A very jolly book, the story - being nominally concernod with the escapades of a good-hearted, blundering, devil-may-care young Irish groom, servant in a rich American family. It is, however, mainly in tho extraordinary sayings and doings of a quartet of delightfully mischievous and most fascinating children, who play so prominent a-part in the story, that the Teader will bo specially interested. Tho author of that inimitable production "Daddy LongLegs". was always at her best when writing about young folks, and 6nly very dull and humourless people will fail to rejoice, in her account of the scrapes into whioh the Brainerd and Carter children—"pickles" of tho first water —are continually engaged. Alas, wo shall have no more stories from the peii to which we owe "Daddy LongLegs" and "Much Ado About Peter," for Miss Webster's death was reported two or throe mouflts ago.

"Tho Camesters," by H. C. Bailey (Methuen and Co.). In his latest novel, "The Gamesters." the author of "The Highwayman" and ■'Tho Gentleman Advonturor," and of so many other excellent novels, gives us a full-blooded and exciting romanco. His heroine, Eva do Itos, the daughter of a selfish old gambler, travols through Germany with her brother, the pair at first gaining their living by keeping a faro bank in various cities, and, later on, becoming tho agents of tho English Secrot Service Department. ; Despite the doubtful moral environment which is often her lot, tho heroine, a ■ line high-spirited girl, preserves lier honour. Sho is witty, recklessly daring, and perhaps a trifle too masculine in some of her characteristics. Lovers, honourable and dishonourable, pester her with their attentions, from the warrior roue, Maurice do Saxe, down to a penniless, but amusing, scamp, Denis Malion, an Irish adventurer, with a touch of Barry Lyndon in his composition. Eventually, however, she is fairly won, almost against her will, by tho gallant, but eccentric, Duko of Severn, who has long masqueraded as plain Jack. Neville. The period of the story is that of Frederick the Great, whom wo meet, in his youth and earlier manhood; and who, to toll tho truth, oiits hut a sorry figure in Mr. Bailey's narrative.. Tho dash, the entrain of tho narrative, is; most engaging,_ and tliero is inuch witty-and entertaining dialoguo. Altogether a novel by no means to bo missed.

"Watermeads," by Archibald Marshall (Stanley Paul and Co.). Those wlio remember Mr. Marshall's earlier stories, in particular "Exton Manor" and "Tho Honour of tlie_ Clintons." will agree with me that this author has inherited tho mantle of the late Anthony Troljope, so far at least as regards his capacity to give us pleasantlydrawn pictures of upper-olass English life, especially the life the country gentleman and his family. "Watermeads," Mr. Marshall's latest novel, takes its title from a beautiful Old Country house, where live the Conways, a family , once rich in landed possessions, but now fallen upon somewhat ovil days. Mr. Marshall shows us tho genial and optimistic Mr. Conway and his , querulous, discontented wife, and thoij- family, all warring desperately against tlio cruel fate which condemns the head of the liouscljold to keeptlie family pot boiling by selling their valuable old pictures and other artistic toeirlooms. Contrasted with the Conwa.vs are the Blnmentlials, wealthy and Lord Kirby, a- nouveauii riche,- a commercial magnate who has gained a peerage by liberal contributions to party funds. How tho family fortunes, when seemingly at their lowest possible ebb, are repaired by a convenient and rich great-uncle, and how the son, and th\ two daughters, nil make happy marriages, is set forth by Mr. Marshall in his usual quiet,, but eminently agreeable. manner. A very cliarming story which I warmly recommend to my readers.

"An Australian Wooing," by Sophie Osmond (Garden City Press, Ltd.), is. described on its title, page as "A story of trade, a goldmine, and a ghost." Miss Osmond -writes well, although perhaps with a little flamboyance of style here and thore. Her liero is a young Australian, Kecne by name, vigorous alike of mind and body, who goes to London to v push the sale of a marvellous soa-tibre, a rival to both flax and silk, and of special value to tho Admiralty. Miss Osmond recalls recollections of. Dickens's scarifying satire on the Circumlocution Department, to which her Proxy House is clearly a latter-day parallel, and she is, I cannot help thinking, just a little too severe upon the alleged ineptitude of the averago British commercial man. Incidental to the main plot is tho story of a hidden treasure in an Australian country house, and a very pleasant sentimental interest. But Miss Osmond surely might have spared us tho female, villain, a scoundrelly adventuress, who attempts to murder tho hero liy a boomerang—in Richmond Park, of nil places! —and who belongs too clearly to tho world of melodrama to be in any way convincing. Miss -Osmond, has a gift for humorous char-' actcr-drawing, as exempliticd in her amusing portrait of Mr. Nix, a gentleman who supplies pedigrees to American and colonial parvenus. A littlo more comedy and tho eschewing of the melodramatic, and tho author ought to make a name for herself as a novelist.

"The Royal Outcast," by tho Countess Zanardi Landi (Eveleigh Nash;, per Whitcombe and Tombs). A novel by the author of "Tho Secret of an Empress," with a sou of the Imperial house of Ostmark) easily identifiable with Austria, as its hero, llis twin brother, the Crown Prince, is murdered, and the liero then goes abroad, and lives for a time in England and Canada as plain Sir. Sanderson. When the right moment arrives, the princely fugitive returns to Ostmarl; to initiate, as its monarch, a, now and entirely beneficent rule under which, so the author would have lis bolieve, are combined not only "the Slav countries which had been under the rule of autocratic sovereigns, but the southern German States, the hero being finally elected Emperor of the Germans, always, be

it noted, with the consent of the Great Powers. Tho story is no doubt intendedto luivo a certain topical interest and to convoy a topical moral. All this apart, "l'lie Koyal Outcast," purely as a story, has a decidcd interest of its own, and makes good reading for a spare hour or two.

"April Folly," by St. John Lucas (Mcthuon ami Co.), Mr. St. John Lucas takes usinto musical and artistic circles in London, and in a. semi-Bohemian milieu, introduces us to' some very pleasant young people, Ills hero being Denis VorKu, now a .young musical genius, whoiu 1 l'emeinuor meeting as a lio.y in a previous novel by t-nc same author, "The First ■Round.'' Denis is a good-looking, Ukeaile young fellow, to whom, when love airives, it comes almost as a surprise tint anything can bo of more importante than his musical career. Two wonen play a part in his enlightenment, one the daughter of the worldly and. witty Lady Hythe; the other a mariied woman, Yvonne Grant-. Denis bracts himself up to tho-determination to g« oil' to France with the woman who lias fascinated him, but, fortunately for both, the lady either lacks courage tc take the plunge, or determines she will not imperil the young man's career—the exact reason is hardly made clear by her letter —and the romanco eomos to a sudden end. We leave Denis on the last page, disillusioned, hut with, wo hope, a much happier future before him than wo fear would lmvo been liis lot had Mrs. Grant turned up at Victoria Station. The young artists, musicians, and budding authors in the story are very amusing folk, and the story is told with much deft literary craftsmanship. i