SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 93, 12 January 1918, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Christine.", kholmondeley, the author of Christine" Qlacmillan and Co.), tells us in her prefaco'that her daughter Christine, who wrote the letters of which her book is composed, died in August, 1914, at a hospital in Stuttgart, of double pneumonia. ' The war, she says, killed Christine, "just, as surely as if she' had died in .tho trenches." If tho letters be genuine, then tho perspicacity with which their author; foresaw, in the early mouths of 1914, the general trend of Gorman public opinion and of the foreign policy of tho Government, is simply astounding.' Christine is ■a, young English girl who, a violinist of exceptional promise, went to Berlin, early in 1914, to complete her studios with a famouß master. We arc given somo extraordinarily intimato descriptions of pension life in tho Prussian capital, tho author shrowdl.y analysing the stupidity, vanity and jealousy of England and England's ovofsea, power, which characterised, before the war, the middleclass Huns. Later on, Christine becomes acquainted with an aristocratic

Prussian family, and a beautiful and roinantio love story now develops, witli. the clover young Englanderin as heroine and.a young lieutenant of TJlilans as tho hero. The young ollicor possesses an artistic temperament, and is manifestly oiit; of touch with his inherited tradition's of intrigue and war. How Christine and her muchloved Bernd are cruelly separated by the outbreak of war, and how they heroine makes her way, with great difficulty, to Wurzburg, where she is left in the last letter, I may not say.. Many books have been written by English ladies in which Geryian life and character have boon described, but "Christina" has a specialand peculiar interest of it's own. Tho author may not possess that delightful gift of satirical humour which was found in "Elizaboth and Her German Garden" and "Tho Caravanners," hut her book is moro thoughtful in .tone, aud, if the letters of which it: is. comprised are genuine—and, despite the preface; I am still somewhat sceptical oil this point—they constitute, a human, document of no small historical.interest and value. ■. ;

"Wolf Lure,"' "Wolf Lure," by Agties- and Egertoiv Castle (O'assell. and Co., per. S. and W. Mackay),- '. is. a 'spiritedly •told romance, tho hero being a young Englishman wlio goes to France' after' tho downfall of Napoleon-to. study tlw archaeology of the 7 niountairii>us Coven*' nes distrct. The,Englishman,-.Charles: do Quorcy, has- French blood in bis veins, and falls in lovowitii a' beautiful French girl, Adrienne, who, however, has already given her heart to a handsome young adventurer who is sought after, by the police for poltical reasons. Tho comes into contact with' somo lawless people, the Gisors, formerly tho official wolf-hniiters of.the region, but now secretly, engaged in coining. • Add to theso experiences tho fact that do Querc.y is mistaken by tho old Count do Rulfeleu for his long-lost son, and it will be seen that 'there is ample material for a romantic, story. The background of the novel, the rocky Cevouues country, with its subtcfrnnoan caverns, its wild, superstitious inhabitants, is tho subject of some vividly picturesque word pictures. A very original, exciting, and enjoyable story.

"The Treasure Hunters." Mr. James Oliver Gurwood's latest story, "The Treasure Hnnters" (Cassell and Co., per Wiiitcombo and Tombs), has for its scene the Hudson Bay wilds. It is in its way a sequel to the same writer's "Tho Wolf Hunters," roviowed in those columns a few weeks ago. That adventure-loving youth, .Rod Drew, with his lir.lf-brced Indian chum, Wabi, and the shrewd old Indian hunter, Mukoki, set out on an expedition to tho extreme north, there to

I search for and discover sonic wonderI fully rich gold deposits. Mr. Curwood j lins been almost over-generous in his [ supply of sensation, and his pictures of backwoods life ami of the animal life of tlio great forests of North-western Canada nro as* vivid and picturesquo as ever. This is 'an admirable gift hook for a hoy. "The Ruling Vice." Ia his latest, novel, "The Ruling Vice" (Ward, Lock and Go., per Whitcombe and Tombs), Mr. Paul Trent introduces his readers to a circle- of fashionable gamblers. His heroine, Nalda Gilchrist, inherits the gambling spirit from her mother, long separated from hor husband. A' rising •_ young politician loves Nalda and marries her, much to the disgust of the girl's treacherous cousin, Ofivo Delaire, deliberately encourages the young wife to give way to the vice she has inherited on the maternal side. The young pair eventually separate, the wife behaving very indiscreetly, and tile husband's jealousy being : secretly. fanned by tile cunning and unscrupulous cousin. The girl is finally cured of her devotion to baccarat and chemin de fer, is forgiven by lier husband, and all ends happily.