SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3124, 30 June 1917, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

'Midst Shot and Shell in Flanders.

"'Hidfit Shot and Shall iu Flanders," by Herbert Hayens (Collins Clear '.I'ypo tress. \Velingtou: Ooliiis, Sous, and Co.), is ail astonishingly cheap production. How a quarto-sued book oi nearly threo hundred pages and containing such a large number of illustrations, in colour and in half-tone, can be 6old for so moderate a prico aa three and sixpence is a mystery the publishers could of course explain, but which is quite boyond mo. Mr. Bayena's etory deals -with theadvonturea of a young Canadian, who, when tho war breaks out, joins the Eanchera' Battalion as a lieutenant. Ho takes part with his regiment in many famous engageiponfe, at JTestubert -and olseirhore, his experiences of war being not coniined to tho land, but including aerial and naval incidents. His Iniowlodgo of German, acquired during a residence iu Hun Land which.only terminated shortly before war breaks out, is of great service to him in dealing with spies and deserters. Several famous engagements aro doscribed in tho story, which goes witli a fino swing of its own from first fo last, nnd should be found exceptionally interesting by youthful, readers. In addiUon to fho coloured illustrations tbo book contains a number of most intci-esting illustrationii of kronen anil .Belgian towns, types'nf British, French, and German. soldiers, Mid so forth. Altogether :i capital book of il.s kind. Emily Lou's Road to Grace. Mrs. George Madden Alartiu'r; stories of child lito enjoy, I boliovo, an immense popularity in America, and Messrs. Georgo Robertson, and Co. have had a happy thought in introducing the .author to tho Aus'ira-lian-Now Zealand publio by means cf a special Australasian editton. In "Kraily Jjou's IFall from Grace/' we aro introduced to a delightful young pcr«ni who, in a previous work by Hio same author, hud made hosts of friends. Mrs. Alartin. bliows us lior heroine's peculiar and often most entertaining vision in home life and religion. Emmy Lou is a terriblo littlo pioklo, who forgets her prayors,. spreads her whooping-congh through tho town, -prefers a oirona porformonae to a. Sunday joioo], 'riionfo' (o, jwo&renoo jvhialv is, \

should eay, shared by most children), and gold into "a long series of escapades and mild eutrapes in tlio relation of. which. Airs. Martin's lively pen is productive of. most diverting entertainment. It is impossible not to lovo Emmy 'Low. Sho is duck a huinan child, llorcover, let be it understock!, this book of Airs, Martin's is lull of Bound common-sense, and of a lino enirit of Christian charity. It is not, J. warn my readers, so much a children's book as one about children (plus si few adults) for grown-ups. The Purchase Price. Thoso of my readers who delight in stories of "tho wild and woolly West," stories in which exciting incident is more in tho novelist's plan and mind than problems in psychology, aliould iwd iiidgwell Cullum's latest novel, "'lho I'ure.lmso i'rieo" (Chapman iiiiil hall, per George Eobertson and Co.), very much to their taste. Tho background id si c-mtliM-arinss ranch on tho lower icothilia of tho Bockics. Tho hero, Jeff Masters, and his partner, Bud Tristram, are young ranchers, very iino fcllowa, whoso skill with their lariats and haiuhness with their leave nothing to bo desired. Also, "there aro ladies." One, t.ho I>cautiful Elvino Van Blooren, with a disgraceful secret to keep, is soli fish and hnrd. but deeply in lovo with her rough-mannered, but warm-hearted husband. Tho otter is on honest, bonny country girl, as good as she is comely. Cattle thieves, thieves who aro ready for murder as for theft, provide a liberal supply of sensational villainy, and soino intoroslin" local colour is fqrtbconimpr in the ranch life and tho social festivities of tho country town which to tho good folk of tho "t.T." and "O-Bur" ranches represents tho centre of fashion and social dissipation. It is a well-planned, lrellwrought story, and in its character drawing notably in tho caso of ELvino Van Blooren, is distinctly above tho average of this particular olass of fiction.