SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3053, 14 April 1917, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

Tlio Rise of Lodger Dunstan, .By Alfred Tresseder Sheppard (Duckworth and Co.; per .Vt hitcombe' and Tombs). Mr. bhepparu, whose earlier novels, "Tlio Red u - avai" and "Running Horso Imi" were spiritedly written romances, follows, in ins now story, somewhat upon tiie lines or iVir. J. v. W. iieres--I'orU in Jiis "Jacob Stahl" trilogy, lie devotes over IUO pages to recounting tbo lite story ol a young man, whoso earlier environment is a liighly respectable, but somewhat stodgy, iSoucouiorinlst household, and whoso career commences with certain mercantile, experiences, hte develops, however,u taste lor literature, and being given comparative independence by a tunoly and substanand legacy, abjures the City and all its ways, and m time becomes a fainy successful author. Mr. Sheppard unfolds the mental,' intellectual, and moral development of his hero in great detail, and as an analysis of a young man's. character the story has, clearly much in. common with Mr. Beresford's trilogy, and, in a certain degree, also with Mr. Compton Mackenzie's "Sinister StTeet." Dunstan lias his weaknesses as well as his good qualities, and Mr. Sheppard handles his puppets with, as it. were, a constant and ironically humorous inspection of - its performances. But the puppet simile —it is, I am afraid, a' poor one —must not convey the idea that Ledger Dunstan is a mere marionette. He is a very real and convincing creation, and the story of his experiences of literary work, comradeship with men, of love-making with women, the story of his gradual enlightenment sa to the mystery, the humour, and the tragedy of life, is a literary achievement of an exceptionally high order. The book has its faults. The interminable conversations—mutual lectures —of the hero and his friend, the cultured insurance clerk, Jelf, whose death on an Alpine excursion so profoundly affects Dunstan, jnight well have been cut down, and I~confoss<l am rather at sea as to the real purport of the long discussion as to the possibility of an Anti-Christ in every day modern' life. We leave the hero in "the last chapter married to a handsome and clever society woman, but it is clear that the husband is, even on his wedding day, somewhat doubtful as to her suitability as a life mate, and from the faet that .the history of Ledger Dunstan is to be continued in a second book, entitled "The Quest of Ledger Dunstan," I infer that the beautiful Mary Beltinge is not fated to occupy permanently the first place in the hern's affections. A special word of praise,is due to the clever ■ character drawing, which finds exposition in the hero's father and his uncle and aunt. . Mr. and Mrs. Muttleboy are worthy, of-Dickens at his very best. Later on, too, in the hook, the' insurance clerk and some of the hero's literary friends are oxcollently drawn. Quite an out-of-the-way story this, and one which should not ho missed.

Tonks, a New Zealand yarn.' By Hubert Church (Holden and Hardingham).

Mr. Church, who was formerly weN known in Wellington as a civil servant, and as a writer of some very graceful verse, gives lis a story which, ■slight in plot, is rich in humour. Sometimes the fun is just a trifle forced, and •■. the author seems quite desperately anxious to display his verbal smartness and his acquaintaneo with tho classics, ancj with literature in general. . Dawks,' in whose mouth the story N is placea, is a jolly young English country gentleman, who possesses a veal live duke for an intimate friend. The wearer of the strawberry 'loaves is ordered abroad by his family doctor, and decides upon a trip to New Zealand., but with a modesty not always, associated, in the popular mind at least, with gentlemen of his exalted birth, insists upon travelling incognito, as plain Mr. Tonks. The pair duly come out to the Dominion and visit the Hot Lakes, the Taupo country, the Marlborough Sounds,.and the Southern Lakes. They make.friends' with two very jolly New Zealand'girls, and have an exceedingly good time. Mr: Church writes easily andi well when-ho likes, but he has an irritating trick, of "showing off," as boys say; Thus, when referring to his reception by a jovial Wellington bank manager, Mr. Church makes his hero, Dawds, remark:

After all, there are compensations in travelling with a duke, even under an alias. I should not have found myself, persona grata so quickly, if at all, With a banker, with whom my credit was on the moderate side. I might be as subtle as Pascal,, as engaging as Marlborough, as jolly as Steele. What would be the sum total for my reception if my balance were to seek, etc, etc. , Also, Mr. Church frequently disfigures his story by 'inept and vulgarly abusive references to Mr. Lloyd George. Tho story, I presume, was written before the war, when British noblemen —of a sort —were apt to allude to the present Prime Minister as "that pettifogging little Welsh attorney," and the bucolio snobocracy, which .worships dukes—as dukes—slavishly followed suit. By this time, I hope, Mr. Church —who lias not himself, as "Liber" can personally testify—one atom of the snob in his own composition, should be feeling rather sorry he made'the Dawks per Eon express himself so stupidly and offensively regarding a man who is, and was always, worth a whole regiment of dukes. Mr. Church has written a bright and amusing story, but he can, and will in the future, 1 hope, give us something infinitely stronger and better than "Tonks." The cover wrapper of the review copy sent me by the publishers deserves a word or two. It is emphatically the most awful production in. design and execution I have over seen, and "is quite enough to drive a.way a prospective purchaser _ of the book", the character of which it so absurdly misrepresents.

Old Rowley. By M. M'Donnell Bodkin (Holden and Hardingham). Judge il'Donnell's latest story takes us back to the days when Ireland was suffering from the "curse of Cromwell," the opening scenes being laid at the sacking of Drogheda. Later on the reader is introduced to the Merry Monarch's court, whither come a beauteous and virtuous Irish girl and a gallant young Irish soldier, who has been living in France. Mr. Bodkin evidently knows his Pepys and Grammont, and his portraits of the haughty, Lady Castlemame, the proud and sulky Louise de Korouaillc (the Duchess of Portsmouth), to say nothing of that "laughing, merry jade," Nell Gwyivn, are all on the most approved lines. It falls to the fato of the heroine to attract the unwelcome attentions of

'both Old Rowley, otherwise the amorous King, and that mad rascal, Rochester, and for a time both she and her. faithful. Irish gallant find themselves in a position of some peril. Needless to say, virtue is triumphant, and the lover's fidelity is properly rewarded in the last chapter. A very readable story of its kind. I The Ranenscroft Horror, by 0. Ran- ! Ger Gail (T. Werner Laurie), is a. | gruesome and luridly sensational story, in which a half-caste Japanese, the of a British peer, plays the role or chief villain. He is a misshapen creature, who disguises himself as a monster bird, and plays tho Ravenscroft a huge raven—to most sinister purpose. A highly virtuous British peer, who has been an Ambassador in Japan, his lovely daughter, and a 'young fellow of good family, who has fallen on evil days, together with somo quite impossibly clever Japanese secret society men, keep tho reader's attention most busily engaged until the inevitable defeat of insane wickedness and the triumph of beauty and goodness are duly reached. It is all in the good old "London Journal" style of fiction, but as such is riot badly done.