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SOME RECENT FICTION

A New Pett Ridge Story, „In his latest 6tory, "Well-to-do Arthur" (Mothuen anil Co.), Mr. Pfitfc Itidge, than ivhoni Ho one better knows hie London, gives us another of tilioso humour-laden studies: of . clerks, 6hop-«iils, small shopkeepers, and the lower middle class coberally of by which ho has endeared himself to a wide ciiclo .of admiring. readers. . All ex-Londoners, iriore particularly those who know Tottenham, Wood Green, Hornsey, and other districts in Northern London, will rejoice in, the good-natured realism of Mr. Pett Bidgo's: descriptions of. Cockney lifo during the war period:'' That veiy fortunate youth, tJio-- hero' of t.ho story, iff employed! in a "munitions works.' He and his fellow om* • ployees, both ihalo and female, earn wages which .onablo them to spend monoy on amusements, 1 find clothes,'' holidays— when they could fiofc them—with a lavishnes3 undreauit of in pre-war and normal

times' 'The author gots sonio capital fun out of the extravagances iu, which, some of tile workers' indtilced. ' Hiii hc|p; Arthur. Lidlineton, is a lucky youth, in that ho -possesses a sousiblo mother who kecDS a watchful ova on him, audi to whom, to do the lad justice, he is selfeacrificinffly generous, sisters who curb any "showing off" by satirical comment, and a sweetheart who is the embodiment of common sense. In Mr. Pett Ridges long gallery- of shrewd, resourceful, sharptongued, but kind-hearted Cockney maidiens, Jane Stiurrv must.take front Tank— the reader's only complaint is that she is too 6eldom on the stage. The hero s holiday sojourn • at a fashionable cOuntry hotel is very happily described. Like the immortal "Kipps" of. Mr. H. <j. Walls's story of that name, the young flllor&ids it dificult to Ml .in mWi thousagw of very "correct' society, tout whereas the ex-draper's ' *' sleepy, seaside resort was abashed to tho extent of almost personal misery, the cheeky youth from London, finds m his DluTdeJ a plentiful f <» amusement, and .adapts toff to the-, unaoousbomed environment remarkable promptness and aplomb. JVhon the armistice comes .*e bignly-paid mnn'ition workers see, BtiU afar off, bn: quite clearly, the spectre of dismissal and the r nVwai of the old-ti.no frugg e W e*stence. Not all of them, I nm afraid, have S plucky as Mr. Pett Rdge's hero, whom we leaVo at «he close of the! story happUy settled down in .<» "g office, earning, it is true far ess than in the, for him, "piping times of, war but wtth at least the prospect of rising steadily to a woll-paid posvion. J» minor characters, notably the heros mother, 'who starts a floral 1 * her husband, fated ■ alas, to die dhs wounds, is at the front, and her Jodgers -members of "the profession.-are all well drawn. A wholesome •andjerypleaeant story which, although the sterner and tragic s de of, London We during, the war may nofl T» represented is of ft distinct historical value for.th» student of wartime social conditions in England. . ■ ■•' "Tho River's End." "The River's End," by James Oliver Cnmod CHodto and Stoughton,. per WhitcombTand Tombs) is a story of the CanXn Far North, the principal fagure being John Keith, a young man, who fa«Ngffi after by the &na<toan. -Mounted Pofice on a cW of murder .He is tracked down by Dorwent Cqnniston, a young Englishman, who has joined the Police, but the, captor-..is <&s*&■ tnoked bv the much-dreaded iroetea. tog," Sob exacts so heavy a tell upon those who venture -up into the. Arctic circle, and dies..' Before .he dies he hears Keith's story, believes him to.be Sent, and suggests that the living outlaw, between wJiom and Conntston there is a .marked, resemblance, shall, take on the personality and work of the policeman. The >w\.>»l«L 0 curious adventures, in which Kcth tods himself protecting the dead mans sister,, who has come'out from England to join her brother, from a sinister Chinese,' Who, by the way, detects the outlaw's identity,, and threatens to expose him., -A, vigorously-told, .exoiting. story, cires with the discomfiture ofthe Chinese, the prov-. ; in? of the hero's innocence of the charge. ,'of murder, and-his marriage to .Miss Conniston. The local colour of the story is." as in all Mr. Curwood's novels,■ picturesque and! convincing. "The Exploitsof Bilge and Ma." There is a. distinct andWery pleasant Kipling Savour about many of. the exoellont yarns told by/Mrl Peter Clark Macfarlane in.his amusing book, Ihe Exploits of Bilge and Ma" (Boston, Little Brown Co.; per Whitcombe and Tombs). "Bilge" and "Ma" were tho forecastle nicknames given to a certain chief machinist's mate on the United States destroyer Judson, o'tt duty in the Irish Sea and' other European, wators. Bilgo hailed from, the' City of Churches, as the dwellers' on Manhattan Island , style Brooklyn, and "Ma" was a Texan. The pair of chums display a positively unquenchable thirst for adventure, and the ready wit.of Bilgo'and thq shrewd resourcefulness of Ma wore drawn upon very heavily in the many curious and exciting experiences whioh it was their lot to undergo. The American fighting man afloat seems to be just as keen,' either in fighting or in search of fantostio adventure as is. the British Jock Tar. •In his foreword to Mr. Macfarlane's clever stories, Rear-Admiral Sims, of the ' United' States Navy, testifies to the author's personal experience of life on a destroyer; and saysrthatin his tales he . has sucoessfullyi portrayed "that playful spirit, 'that dare-devil 'courage, and that unfailing tenacity.of. purpose which I' ■ have always seen to be characteristic of: ■ the American fighting man afloat." All .the:- experiences of' the pair 'of comrades are .not humorous. There is a : "submarine' yarn ? in which a powerfully dramatio note is struck; ' but I prefer the'stories in which their ' experiences ashore—notably an . tvecount r 'ot their participation in a pionio on ' Lalljskallen- sands, and tho story of their attempted : conquest of London ■ town,'which, as the irrepressible _ Bilge • is forced to admit, was, "too big for • them to get away with." ' Apart from ' the humorous quality of the stories they ■ give a capital account of life in the • ' American' Navy andmako excellent read- [ ing for "a few leisure hours. ■

Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi

https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19200710.2.91.3

Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 245, 10 July 1920, Page 11

Word count
Tapeke kupu
1,013

SOME RECENT FICTION Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 245, 10 July 1920, Page 11

SOME RECENT FICTION Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 245, 10 July 1920, Page 11

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