BOOK REVIEWS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 232, 28 June 1944, Page 6

BOOK REVIEWS

The Last Of The Kerries Family "Katherine Christian.” by Hugh Walpole (London: .Macmillanl. When Sir Hugh w.-ilpolc died in 194'1 he left a novel well on the way to completion. It was another slor.i in I lie Ilerries series, ami, in the opinion of Sir Hugh's literary executors, was sufficiently well rounded to present to the Tublie. There is, actually, little feeling of incompleteness about it. These expansive family chronicles can unfold'themselves almost indefinitely without producing any reason—-beyond failing book sales —why I lie process should slop. \nd as the individual volumes, except when lhe death of a principal character occurs at an opportune moment, rarely re-icli a logical close, the end ot ’Katherine Christian” may bo considered no less -irbitrarv limn that of most of its kind. Certainly there was no commercial reason why the Ilerries series should come to a stop The public likes reading them, as sales ’ emphatically- show, and their author liked writing them, so much so that lifter the appearance of the group ot four which end with “Vanessa, he planned another complete group. Had he lived be would undoubtedly have finished the task, for few authors have been so capable of working to a plan as Sir Hugh Walpole. In 1923 presented to Ins publishers what proved to be a remarkably accurate programme of his proposed work for the following nine years: a list of thirteen intended books ending three about the Ilerries family. It hap-peiic-d that “Rogue Ilerries, the first of the series, npjieared two years ahead of schedule. Here, now, is the last ot them, a 500-page volume, which picks up the storv where "The Bright Pavilions left off, the period being from the death of Queen Elizabeth to the Civil war. It is well up to the Walpole standard, exhibiting in good measure the faults and virtues of Rs predecessors. lhe faults include over-hasty writing and an inability to endow the players on Ins crowded stage with the power of development from within. Their characters are thrust upon them by the author: only rarelv do they seem to have evolved from tlio circumstances of the story. Against this can be set Sir Hugh's acuteness of perception and sensitivity, and above all his surpassing gift of narrative. His powers of story-telling and the sweep and forward surge with which he could invest his writing more than compensate for the defects to which il is so easy t 0 •‘Medicine In Britain,” by Hugh Clegg (London: Longmans). This is one of the “British Life and Thought volumes published for the British Council with the object of forming a series of national interpretations. Dr. Clegg describes medical organizations in Britain the training of students and the relation ot medicine to the State. He-deals .with research institutes also, and points the wav in which medicine is likely to develop after the war. There are several photographic reproductions illustrating aspects of medical treatment and an amazingly wide field of medical practice is efficiently covered in a brief space. “What Australia Has Done, edited by II C. Smart (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode). This is a brief survey of Austrlia’s war effort prepared from Australia House. London. For the most part it relies on pictures to convey its mes-sa-e, and they do the job well, giving a very clear idea of Pacific warfare in particular. The more outstanding actions in which the Australian forces participatefl are described, and there is also a section dealing with activities on the home front. . “The Secret of Killnnoon, by Emu Blyton (Oxford: Blackwell). This adventure story for chidren round the age of ten concerns the visit of some longish children to the young prince of the imaginary kingdom of Baronia. h i tli its underground stream giving access to a secret forest where robbers live, Baronia provides the visitors with plent J of healthy excitement.