SOME RECENT FICTION

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 20, 18 October 1919, Page 13

SOME RECENT FICTION

Mr, H. G. Wells Rewrite "Job." Mr. H. G.. Wells is assuredly not lacking in audacity, for in the first chapter of his latest novel, "The Undying Fire" (Cabell and Co., jier S. and M. Mackay), his scenario is laid -in Heaven, tho Deity—nnd Salan—being introduced. To some good people this may eeom unpardonable irreverence, a» may also the novelist's picture of tlio "Killer of the Universe," who not only "creates the board, the pieces and the rules," a simile familiar enough to thoso who remember FitzGerald's version of Omar Khayyam with tlio famous quatrain— 'Tis all a Qhenuer-board of Nights and Days Whero Destiny with Men for Pieces plays; Either nnd thither moves, and mates, and slays ' And ono by one back in the Closet lays— but "makes all tho moves," His antagonist, however, is "permitted to introduce a slight inexplicable inaccuracy to each move which necessitales further moves in correction." The Deity affords Satan, no' believer in man's courago and patience, permission to try soiuo mortal to the uttermost, _ and tlio _ prologue closes with Satan sitting brooding, "high over tlio realms of being," pondering, 110 doubt, over the problem of selecting the partioular man to bo experimented 1 upon, When the story proper opens we descend to earth and.are introduced to a certain Mr. Job Hups, master of n somewhat famous Norfolk school, Wolding6tnnton. Mr. Huss scorns educational conventions and old-time methods, and has built, up a school which ninny scoff at and others enthusiastically praise.

It was the only 6choo! in Knghnd where Spanish and Russian were honestly taught, his science laboratories were the best school laboratories In Rneln.nd. and his new methods in teaching history brought a steady stream of foreign intjuirerß.

It goes ill with Itr. Huss when onco Satan gets busy, .and the process of trial fox- his modem Job is commenced. Within a week or two an opidemic of measles invades Woldings'anton, and two boys die. Next there is an explosion in what in English publio school slang is called the "stinks department," otherwise tho chemical laboratory, and an instructor is wiped out. _ Tragedy succeeds trnpfCKly. The principal fclioolhouse is burned down, two unfortunate liuls being trapped behind n locked door and burned to death, and tlio very, next morning comes news that the unlucky pedagogue's solicitor has hilled himself having first lost all his client's saving* in unauthorised speculations. A final and crowning blow is ji telegram _ from tho War Office conveying the intelligence that HuSs's only and greatly beloved son has been shot down behind tho German linss. lluss and his wife, not unnaturally, have a joint nervous breakdown anil retiro to a seaside report, where tho wretched husband is stricken with a malady which is diagnosed as cancer. After "this the trials of the Biblical Job with his loss of rattle, his boils anil all his other troubles, seem to shrink into comparative insignificance. The unhappy man is not permitted even to dic-'as he thinks is his fate—in peace, for his chief assistant, who is -ambitious of deposing the head, _ and two of tho school governors repair to Sundering-on-Sea, and badger him with I complaints and sugcestions of resignation. But in Job Hum is tho "undying fire" of the- finest spirit of imnuenchable human coura™. supported bv fnith in the Deity's ultimate eeiwe of justice, and in the long rim lie emerges victorious from his terrible ordeal." He routs his hynncrit'cnl "comforters," refuses to make his school "more practical," and in the end everything comes out right. He recovers the supposedly loat fortune, his son is reported nlivo and well, and, lyst of hll happenings, the so-celled "malignant" growth which had been diagnosed ns cancra-tu'-ns out to be quite harmless. I'c n. ln r, re extent—to « lnruef evtent. perhaps, than inav b-> to Up tn«te ef s"me render? —f'e story is a (''"it"'" < w| educations!. metho'V'. what t' ,nV should mid "'lint tlpv should not be. _a'w>>v9 ne-eni'dinc to tip t'>oorp> a"'' iirine ; 'ilrs of Mr. TT CI. Wells. To othe" ;-nd"rs also it may seem that U'e ijovelist bus unduly strained the eoinpiriso" of the Scriptural and the latter-day Job, But every line tlin't Jlr. Wells writes is worth reading, and in "The Undying ]Tiro" (a book, by the way, of no great

length) ho is as audacious, as thoughtprovoking, as readable as ever. All the same I would Mr. Wells-would give us, say, another "Kipps" or "Mr. Polly," or "Lovo and Mr. Lewisham"—to say nothing of a new "Toito Bungay," and issue his theological and educational essays professedly as such. Two American "Detectives." ■ Tho "detective" story seems to have become firmly established in popularity with a numerous class of novel readers, who want, as wme put it, to be "taken ?ut of themselves," and wl\o find in stories which deal with the hunting down of criminals :md the solution of various criminal mysteries it sure escape from boredom. To such may be recommended Mr. Hubert I'ootner's "Thieves' Wit" (Hodder and fitoughton), and Miss Geraldme Bonner's "Miss Maitland, Privato v-ceretary" (Appleton and Co., Kew York, per Whitcoinuo and Tombs). Ah'. Footner s chief figure, B. Enderby, "Confident tinl Investigator," is set the task of recovering a.hnlf million dollar string of blue pearls, which is stolen from a fashionable actress, an idol of the Great White Way. In real lite tho "thefts" of actresses' jewels are too often, 60 it is ill-naturedly said, btit an ingenious form of advertisement. But Irma Hamilton really docs lose her jewels, and, what is worse, believes, tor a tune, that they have been stolen' oy a hand some young actor who is desperately 111 love with her and to whom' she herself is far from being indifferent. As a matter of fact, although tho author very cleverly puts his readers on ? or ?i tm, 1 ." on e falso track before he ?, M ' f up tho right thimble," tho • 1 J-' 10 Ivor ' c °f a clever gang of jewel thieves who liavo their accomplices 111 highly respected salesmen in the smartest shops, and whoso head is—well, f 1 Z 10 !" spoil tho reader's enjoyment of what is an exceptionally ingenious story by divulging the key secret of tho novel.

_Miss.. Bonner's story, "Miss Maitland, Private iSccj'etafy," has for a heroine a girl who is "social secretary to rich Mrs. Janney and her husband 111 their gorgeous country house near New York. Mrs. Janney suddenly loses her jewels out of her sale, and for I a time suspects her son-in-law, Price, who is about to bo divorced from his wifo and who has left tho house threatening vengeance against her parents for j refusing him UlO custody of his littlo daughter, Bebita. Mr. Janney, alas, suspects his daughter, whom he knows has heavy bridge debts, and the daughter in her turn suspects the social secretary. More than one detective is engaged, but fails to solve tho mystery, but finally there appears 011 the scene 0110 Molly liabbits, tiio wife of a newspaper reporter, who is specially skilled in solving tho most difficult criminal problems, linknown to the Janneys and to Miss Rab-. bits, Suzanne Price lias also engaged a detective 011 her own account, and what with 0110 and tho other of theso mnlc and femalo "sleuths" at work tlio "Janney mystery" becomes, more tanglod up than ever. Finally th'e child Bebita is kidnapped nnd held for ransom, and the feast of excitement becomes almost a surfeit. In tho long run both tho son-in-law, his wifo, and the private secretary, whom Mrs, Price, jealousy aiding her suspicion, has believed to be tho culprit, _ aro all cleared, the real criminal, being found in a smugfaced but 'cunning , English valet. 'The secretary i.s a well-drawn figure, _ and tho' ingenious Miss K-abbits is clever enough to have made her a splendid wife and assistant in crimo detection for our old friend M. Lecoctj, li.iil that delight of our youth ever thought of omigratiiig to America. "Instead,"

Annunziata (Anno to her English relations) Caatell, tho heroine of Olive Wadsley's latest novel "Instead" (Cassell and Co., per S. aud W. Mackay), is tho 01paned child of a lumdsomo young Brazilian father and the daughter of an Knglish peer. Brought up by her grandfather, who lmd strongly disapproved of the marriage, Aa.uo is 11 wayward though charming girl. She inherits her

mother's wilfulness and licr father's good looks, and, being, possessed of a' highly affectionate temperament, combined with a full recognition of a! Iranian's privilege of changing her mind, luts qiiitualong sticceMion ot sentimental attachment's, including a. handsome young uc;or, a middioaged Hungarian nobleman, a rising young firitisii politician <md an always liutlilul cousin. She is engaged to the politician, but this gojitiemaii lias had a prior attachment to uiu wiie of a peer, wao dies rather suddenly, and leaves it open lo his wile's old li'iend to fulfil what ho considers a sacred obligation. So poor Anne. is tnrown over, and as, about this time, her gramlfatlier (lies and leaves her almost penniless, she emigrated to her (lead labiers country, and goes on tile stage in fiio do uanoiro. Here she. eventually marries a millionaire son of tho soil. Miss Wndsley's stylo is dcc.uedly staocato, but tno novel belongs to a class of iiction always very popular wic.'i a certain class 01 lenunine rtuuef. "The Forest- Fire." "The forest Fire," by E. Templo Thurston tCasseil mid Co., per >5. and vv. Macitay) is me titie story 01 11 collection or tweivo separate taies 10111 the wellpracused pen which gave us "The City of Beautnul iSoiisense," and tue niucn stronger "iCicuuru iurii/ng" triiogy. The stories, whicli uro all very reauauie, tury greatly in subjo-'t and style, "mo Naiuro of tne iieasc ' is a powenul stuuy ot a well-bred yotiug fielgian lady's wartime experiences, .'lid tueir sequel in an iiiigiisu marriage. It 13 imensi-.y dramatic 111 lnoro tnaii one of ;tn ulciuenus. 'J.hero is some good satire in tlie sligiit but effective little sketch, "The Uncuiiicious iiumoiiriot," 111 wnich a reared w. tor-manager and a Punoli and Juuy snowman uro contrasted; and in an irisn sketch, "Fatnor Tieraoy Intervenes," tho author manages to invest tile unpromising subject 01 Sinn' polities witn stiiio pleasant iiiimour. in "A Uiineo,'* 111 a leading figures arc ' two city men, 0110 a German and one au Englishman, who lor many years dino together once a week at a littlo French restaurant, in Solio, their . friendship being suddenly terminated by tho war. "Tho Fl(hv" is a divorco court story, with a singularly ingenious and unexpected denouement. T(ie title story—by 310 means tho best of the bunch—deals with a young, wife's ded,cation and preparation of herself to maternity and tho effect of this upon tho character of hor son when ho returns a blinded soldier from France, Mr. Thurston's trf.es have in tlieni much of that special quality which ' distinguishes the flench, conto from the ordinary English short story, and are well wurth reading. Some Good Reprints. We cannot all read new novels and other books when they are first published, for the dual and excellent reason that sufficient money and leisure may be lacking. Jlnico it is. that there will always be a b;; public for tho many excellent reprints issued by various publishing houses. Some excellent stories have recently been included in Rodder and Stoughton's halfcrown series. Here, for instance, is Hex Beach's lively story .of stago life in lyew York, "The Auction Block," a-iid Mr. Warwick Deeping'si vigorously-writ-ten historical" romance, "The King Behind the King," in which those medieval l>ocialists, Wat tho Tiler, Jack Straw, nnd John Ball niado an appmrance. In quite different vein, nnd appealing to another class of render, are Mrs. J. E. Buckrose's pleasant little comedy of Yorkshire lifo, '"J'lio Matchmakers," and Mrs. Grace S. Richmond's agreeably sentimental story, "The Second VioCtn." From Messrs. Cassnil and Co. (per S. and AV. Mackay) comcs a cheaper edition of Mr, Arnold Bennett's novel, "Tho Lion's Share," in which there is such a pleasant mehuigo of love-making, and music, and 'tho suffragette movement, plus,, too, Mine sharply etched pictures of artistic lifo in the Latin Quarter of Paris.