SELECTED FICTION

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 86, 5 January 1935, Page 7

SELECTED FICTION

“Captain Nicholas” and Other Recent Novels “Captain Nicholas," by Hugh Walpme (London: Macmillan. 7/.) ; “His Worship the Mayor,” by Walter Greenwood (London: Cape. 7/-.); “Earthquake in the Triangle,” by Lewis Gibbs (London: Dent. 7/-) ; “Pitch Lake,” by Alfred H. Mendes > (London: Duckworth. 7/-) ; “Bank Holiday,” by Vincent Seligman (London: Longmans. 7/-); “The Hands of a Man,” by Marguerite .Williams (London: Blackie. 7/-); “Right Ho, Jeeves,” by P. G. Wodehouse (London: Jenkins. 7/-).

As a portrayer of present-day life in a certain stratum of society Mr. Hugh Walpole is without equal among living English writers. As commentator he is always wise and he draws from a wide experience for his characterisations. In his new novel, “Captain Nicholas,” he concentrates on a family scene and makes a first-class story out of the reactions of the members of a

single household to a sinister influence that comes among them at a moment when it seems that nothing could possibly disturb theit unity as a self-con-tained, and certainly self-satisfied group. This influence emanates from the bad penny of the family who turns up after an absence of many years, and, cursed by an inability to leave well alone even when essential for his own comfort, proceeds to shatter everything that seems to him to savour of smugness and self-complacency. Mr. Walpole is very successful in describing the emotional upsets that result. Nicholas himself is a difficult character £o handle convincingly. He is a queer mixture of good and depraved qualities, with the latter ones generally in the ascendant, and never becomes entirely real. The minor characters are one and all excellent; the plot, is perfectly satisfying and capable of keeping the reader, deeply interested from beginning to end. As in his first novel, “Love on the Dole,” Mr. Greenwood’s theme is again poverty and the tragedy that can accompany it. “His Worship the Mayor” is on the surface a grim piece of work, yet below there is a rich expansiveness and a wide experience of humanity makes every page of the book enthralling. There is, too, humour both straightforward and satire, as the subtitle, “It’s Only Human Nature After All,” suggests. Mr. Greenwood can write of sordid and depressing things and great injustices iu a way that shows his true feeling without revealing bitterness and the concern for pointing a moral that can so easily cause a reader to lose interest. It is the gift that Dickens had and Mr. Greenwood’s work shows it in good measure.

Mr. Lewis Gibbs is a master of the miniature. The scenes he creates have nothing of the breadth suggested by the work of either Mr. Walpole or Mr. Greenwood, but within their limits they are delightful works of art, sensitive and complete records of affairs that may matter little to the world at large, yet are of supreme importance to the figures moving within the restricted boundaries he has set for them. In “Earthquake in the Triangle,” his theme deals with the attempt, of a middle-aged married man to carry through iu the classic manner a love affair with a much younger woman. It is part-tragic comedy told with rare technical skill and a delicate perception of minor truths.

Apart from the excellent picture of West Indian life it provides, there is nothing attractive about Mr. Mendes’ story from Trinidad, "Pitch Lake.” It is a sordid tale, certainly well-written, but too consistently depressing in its effect to be at all interesting. Mr. Aldous Huxley writes an appreciative introduction to the book. Some bright satire on banking methods, both English and American, is provided by Mr. Selizman in “Bank Holiday,” which concerns the negotiations following the decision of a Ruritanian kingdom to seek a large loan abroad. The book is a bit too much like the eurate’s egg, but in places where its author sticks to his main point it is excellent. A certain earnestness of purpose and absence of sophistication will make “The Hands of Man” appeal strongly to many readers. It is the story of a blind doctor's efforts to win success in life and love.

Mr. Wodehouse’s new long story, "Right Ho, Jeeves,” is just what one would cxipeet it to be, excellent fun of the good, clean variety. There are several chuckles on every page.