SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3143, 28 July 1917, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

The Balance," by Francis R. Bellamy (Doubleday, Page, and Co.; per George Robertson and Co.). , "The Balance" is an American novel which should please a wide circle of readers. S. Sydney Tappau, who leaves his native city of Melchester to seek fortune ill New York as a playwright, is a likeable young fellow, and the story of his vnried experiences on "The Great White Way," and of the theatrical aihl J'.o'heinian life of New York, makes' excellent reading. I<'or a. time he is successful, making much money—on paper— with a smartly written but meretricious play which owes something to Ibsen, and a little, perhaps, to Siniei'mann. But suddenly a wave of depression strikes the country, theatrical enterprise is under a cloud, and the hero has to wrestle hard with poverty, [t is now that ho sees the great problem before modern | society, the eternal problem of .relies and poverty, and writes a play in whicli his socialistic theories are propounded, winning for himself permanent fame ' as a dramatist. Three women play prominent parts in Tappan's career, ono i of them basely tricking him into mnrI riage to save her own honour. In the ami it is an old love of Melohester who makes' him—and herself—happy, but not before the young man has been sorely buffeted by adverse fortune and cruel

late. A wholesome, pleasant story. The author, by thy way, is a kinsman of tho Edward Bellamy who wrote that oncotviiuous l>ook "Looking tliiekward." .Save tor a long anil quite unconvincing apology lor tho I.U'.W. wliieh is delivered Dy one of tho characters, the author dots not unnecessarily obtrude his own '.iews on social and political questions.

"Painted Clay," by Cupei Boake (Australasian Authors' Agency, Melbourne), Is, it' it be, as 1 presume a first, novel, a very promising production. Tho scene is laid in Melbourne, the leading character being an orphan girl, vvlioso lather had been separated from his wife. The sirl finds employment in a pottery store, and afterwards as a typist, and meets with many experiences which prove to licr what an ugly filing life may be in a great city. She is fascinated by a worthless actor, whom 6he has met in a Bohemian circle of writers, artists, and musicians, whose unconventional views fit in with her own outlook on life. The man treats her very badly, but the girl is singularly self-reliant and bravely determines to "live it down," eventually finding a tranquil happiness with a friend of her youth. The chief merit of the story is 'its palpable sincerity. It is, or would seem to be, a transcript from real life, and is a very interesting and promising story. "The Si Fan Mysteries," by Sax Eolinier (Methuen and Co.). Sax Kohmer's mysterious Chinese doctor, chief of a band of audacious Chin&se criminals, bids fair to become as popular a figure with tho novel-reading public as was the famous Dr. Nikola. The prosent is the fourth collection of stories, dealing with the ingenious villainies of Dr. Fu Mantfhu, and certainly the author's "powers of invention display no falling off. Here and there Mr. Hohmer makes, perhaps, an extravagant demand iipou tho imagination of his Tenders, hulas essayfl in sensation, such stones "The Golden Pomegranates" and the Secret of the Wharf" could scarcely lie better. As in the earlier books, the Anglo-Indian crime investigator, land Smith, pits his wits against, the mysterious Mongolian, and the amiable Petroe again plays the Watsoman role. In the final chapter the resourceful I'll Manchu is supposed to be drowned. But I have no doubt that in a few months time I shall be leading a new set of stories of which Tie is the hero. O.leviem-s of other novels held over.)