SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 247, 12 July 1919, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION

"Web of Steel." • Air. Cyrus Townseird Brady, already well known to New Zealand 'renders as an American novelist who is generally lo be relied upon for a well-tout story, has, in his latest effort, "Web of fcteel" (Stanley Paul and Co.) had his son, Air. <J, T. jirtuly, Juu., as a collaborator. Tho result of tnis literary partnership is a novel much above the average of present?' day Ainerican'fiction.'' The''story has lor it;-, niulif tlip'devotion of a.sou ; to his father's good name and reputation' as an engineer. The father plans and superintends the erection (f- a monster bridge. Unfortunately he makes ait error in certain of liis calculations as 16 the stability of the structure; The bridge collapses; and the engineer is found dead in his olliee.tho failure of his great work having brought on a sudden and- fatal attack of heart-disease. The soil-chival-rously asMiune.s responsibility "'lor the disaster, declaring'that he and not hisdead father had designed the faulty- part ltd is engaged to bo married,' but gives his 'fiancee her liberty.. She, however, has couiplelo faith in the young man, : who; after having saved a thickly-popu-lated valley froih' threatened annihilation by the breaking of a giant, dam, is rehabilitated in" his professional reputation by an old'family'retainer, who flis--closes the truth as-to the failure of: the bridge. The incidental, love story'is ■.told wi.l.h much charm, but■'the dominant interest and'merit of the novel are (o bo •found in the clever utilisation of the :technical knowledge'of the. younger of tho collaborating authors,'himself n civil engineer'. The description of tho bridge collapse and of ' the terrific struggle against tho flood waters which results in' the saving of thousand; of lives, is eon■cpived'nnil carried out iv'ith a convincing realism. ' . . • '■ ' "" "Droonin' Watter."' ••■''. The scene .of Air, J. S. Fletcher's high--ly sensational, story, "Hrqunin' Wattc'r" (George Allen and Unwin) is tile'little Ixnder lowri of. Benvick-on-Tweed. Tho first chapter pleasantly suggests memories of "Treasure .Island,"-for to a widow woman's homely ' lodginghouse comes a mysterious stranger, whose speech is full oj references to' Panama and Vera Cruz, and who is apparently' es nervous about iter strangers as was the famous -,Atr. Pew, the Billy Bones of "Stevenson's 'famous story. But tho"' time is that . of the present day, and 'the 'mysterious stranger ..has.. ..teen a subcontractor on tho Panama "Canal. The old boy -is really a very picturesque, individual, and one reader, at least of Mr. Fletcher's-story has «.distinct gricyanco against tho author in that the stranger is murdered at tho very outset, of IJi.c tale. Two other mysterious, murders quickly follow, being the work of a really first-class villain, a clever'advenliirer who impersonates'. a -. long-lost. local

baronet ami usurps his property. A shrewd old lawyer ami. a young'lawyer's clerk (the latter being the" narrator of the story) act. as' sleuthhmmds, and in the long,run, of course, vil-.ainy is duly vanquished and virtue' triumphs. ■■ Air. Fletcher has been very generous in his supply of sensation, and the mystery as lo Ihe exact identity of the wicked doctor who impersonates tho lost baronet, and who is as ruthtrss in his methods of removing human obstacles lo his villainy as a. Hun submarine' com. liiander sworn to carry out the "destroy-and-leavc-mY-frace" instruction, is skilfully maintained until almost-the 'very fall' of Hie curtain. : The local colour is picturesque and the' minor character* ii.ro more carefully drawn'than is usual in this class of fiction. Quito a good yarn in its own way. "The Thunderbolt." Airs. Oolmore, tho author of "The Thunderbolt" (T. Fisher Unwin), is somewhat audacious, alike in tho choice of a motif for her story and in ' its execution in detail. For over a hundred and liftj- pages the story deals with llio life of a sober-sided, c'oavcniionallrminded widow lady, of great: ' personal refinement, wealth, and good'social post-' t.ion in a quiet English village, and'her only child Hqrrie.. Then, when Dorrie is a girl of nineteen, engaged to bo married .to a most eligible parti,' she' goes with her .'mother on a Continental- tuur which takes in a certain German city— the period ' is, 1 limy say, pre-war. Now comes the shock suggested by the title of the story, for this innocent, lovely, English-speaking girl, meeting one day with a. slight accident, is taken by ;> stupid foreign maid to tho private clinio of a. Teuton surgeon, who specialises in the study and treatment of a loathsome and uniia'ineable disease. Exactly how it happens that tho poor girl becomes in.oeulated 'with, the awful malady I need trot set forth in.detail, hot'can 1 bring myself lo do. more than sav that the story ends in grimmest tragedy, a faithful "old ntirfie, in her fanatical'love'fot liei- darling, taking it upon herself, to put an end to the poor girl's life. It is difficult to bcCicv'o that such,a fiend in .human, form as the German" doctor of the story could exist save in imagination, and tho author hiight -.well have, spared, her readers, the horror of certain physiological .details: lint, considered as sheer tragedy, the second "part of tlio storj; is .undoubtedly presented with a convincing if ropellunt power. '' - "All's Well, Billy." ' Lady 'I'loubridge's • latest novel, "All's Well,' Billy" (Alethucu.,ahd Co'.), is a prettily told but,, particularly towards its close, a very pathetic war story. Tho heroine, a peculiarly charming young English girl of good family, is loved by and loves an equally delightful young fellow.- Tiight-hearted, with all-the capacity for the joie de vivre of which youth is capable, with, a future seem"iiigly promising long years.of happiness, the lovers, are for a. while as- happy und free from care us -only such, healthily minded, ami,, as the, good IliingL; of !>'•', world go,-fortunately placed..young people could'be. Then conies the war, and the young officer has to leave his wife and go to the front, there., alas, to die, as so. many lens of-thousands of .-fine yoni'; 1 ' Englishmen •• have . done. The story is merely a series of pictures of. English life,-mainly country life,.'iii, wartime, and tho author "cleverly contrasts the elt'ects of IJio great struggle ,upon rich land poor alike, upon those highly placed .in country society and the humbles!;.farm labourers.; Lady .frdubriilge's touch is pleasantly light, .but the shadow of the/ impending sword seems to hover over -.the narrative long before the actual tragedy is. recorded." In the earlier chapters there" is somo exceptionally pretty love-making, but-later .on the. dominant .tone, is of Well restrained pathos.' , .. ~,;: [■■ . .