YOUTH IN A NOVEL

Evening Post, Volume CVII, Issue 16, 19 January 1924, Page 17

YOUTH IN A NOVEL

■'Heirs' Apparent." ,By Sir 'Philip Gibbs. Hutchinßoo. .and. Co., London (from .Whitcombe. and Tombs). ( Sir Philip Gibbs has, a., dual, person-, ality. He is not a Jekyjl and Hyde; but an author and a reporteroj'As >a reporter he records facts as he sees them and .people as he finds them. -As ail author he is concerned with tuitiqn, and ,with charac^rs which may be caricatures. But in ■"; "Heirs Apparent" he has so realistic , a touch that one wonders' •whether the personality of Hho reporter is not overshadowing the author.;. Gradually the personality of Mr. Hyde gained cojnplete' control over Dr. sTelfyil.,,: It is possible that Sir' Philip Gibßs, 'having deeply .^occupied for some years ■with the reporting side of .his.dual;pro>ission, haa^ been unable to shake himself free from the realities 'wheii'the has turned again to fiction. He has' been so. greatly impressed 'with' the'horrors of war, the futilities of politics, and the hopelessness Vf the world. sitttation that he has Had' to .put his views'.'even into a novel. Perhaps he has 'done this \rith a purpose, kno\ying tfia£ many people^wjll ,read a novel whb'.'wll leave the pages 'of. a contemporary history uncut br'.'Heep .'. through a''i-"ser-ETlOn. ■' .jr./" ■'r.'/'" ': ■. ' '.-.'' /: . / '<' One rather .liop.es, . >'hen half-way through "HeirsV;Apparent,"'.' th£j"'<'Sir Philip Gibbs is- not- writing the truth; lor if he is, and if his vision is not distorted, England has come- to sorry straits. "Heirs Apparent" are the youth of the nation, heirs of the past with-, all its misery and woeful heritage.! Particularly they are two young people—a girl "sent down" from Oxford for a ■reckless escapade;, and, a youth who leaves Oxford' in disgustwhen he would probably be "sent down" if. \. f he stayed. .. They are impatient of all 'restraint, and re- j gard the world (inciutiing'- theirTparents and all older people) as absurd and ! without real purpose. They are disdainful -and sup,enor and they speak with ecorri'-'of'politics;Hh'e Government, the-, "gutter press" (the boy, Julian Berryman,. is son, of the editor, of a popular weekly paper), and religion (the girl, Audrey Nye, is daughter of an Anglican I clergyman who becomes a Roman Catholic). -• "' ..- '.'■ -.-'. ■. '; This superiority, one feels instinctively; is the pride which comes before a fall. It is. The-young people are tried severely by poverty and passion. Then Sir Philip, Gibbs's moralis revealed! Audrey first and' Julian next learn, that the Victorian conventions which they derided were not without;meaning; 'that newliberty must be used, not abijse<!; that youth must consider its duties as weir as fits privileges, and;.' that "the young people mnstj.iio,t be;content tb:sneer idly at the world,: of which the old people i have made such a mess. They must go in and clear up .the; muddle^ ■ Finally, they leamjai.', Atidfeyi;ejipr9Bßes';;it.:i'i».THe) young idea ia only the old idea in a different kind of slang." If Sir Philip Gibbs does'.seecblack visions he is at least not witHbut hopa.-of. a bright dawn. % •'•;;... '■ '. ..■'; : ',', : In style the novel is never dull. Its realism in parts is something akin to the realism of Mr. H. G. Wells, but kindlier. The author has not left Fleet street,' and for many people the most interesting passages in his,took will be those devoted to "Victor Buckland, M.P., proprietor of: "The Week.'-' He has an amazing career and finishes with a seven: yearsV sentence' for dealings in Victory Bonds. The change of name will not' conceal the identity, of the man whose history is.here written With a, powerful, almost a ■ searching, pen. There' is humour too. 'For example, this reference to one of Sir Philip Gibbs's earlier :works:-. ■. ' •..-■•- Said.Audrey::"! Wouldn't mind being a lady reporter if the life is anything like 'a novel Ik.read-'The Street of Adventure.' " It isnt," said Julian. "Heirs Apparent," then, may be pro-nounced-a good, book. It will improve or entertain; and. it may do both. ■-'.