NOTICES OF BOOKS.

Evening Star, Issue 3323, 14 October 1873, Page 2

NOTICES OF BOOKS.

The Story of Wild Will Enderby. Told by Vincent tyke. Book II.: “The Young Widow.” K. T. Wheeler, Stafford street, Dunedin. It has been well said that the difference between novels and other imaginative compositions is that “while the latter depend for their effect on our tastes and sympathies as men, the former require us to be interested in the circumstances of the plot as well as in the characters themselves.” So far as the plot of “ Wild Will Enderby” was developed in the first number, expectation was raised which has not been disappointed. “ Wild Will” and his shrewd Yankee partner wore left at the close of part I, revealing to each other their love stories, their hopes, and their disappointments. No. II unfolds Will'# antecedents, and how it W; s that he had found his way to New Zealand, Mr Fyke in this number has proved not less successful as a character painter than he showed himself in the last to be a scene depicter. He docs not attempt this by any labored analysis c f the good or bad qualities of his heroes or heroines. Very little time does he give to telling of what was passing through their minds ; he leaves their words and actions to tell their own tale. We are shown just so much of their appearance, habits, and character as is necessary to account for the events in which they took a leading part, and to justify the reader in feeling deep interest in their doings. There is nothing at all extravagant in any of the ideals Mr Fyke has drawn. It is quite possible to pick out a score Mrs Melnoths, young widows, amongst those we have known, and all are acquainted with the love-sick Mabel Grey—lovely girls cherishing hopes that those Mrs Melnoths stood in the way of being realised. It is just because they are people we have met, that we can realise their thoughts and feelings, and feel deep interest in their fate. The noblehearted, open handed merchant, John Grey, is not a singular character in the Colonies. As Mr Fyke says, men like him “rarely preach; they merely practice ” ; but their practice is the most eloquent preaching. We will not mar the pleasure that all will feave in reading No. 11, by detailing the further development of the plot of the story, nor forestall that analysis of the characters that readers will so easily form for themselves. The different chapters are each a dramatic scene complete in itself, but necessary to the development of the plot. If people are disposed to find fault, it will be because of toe little being said, not too much about the various persons brought under notice; but both men and women, the merchant, the station manager, the accomplished flirt, the confiding fiancee, the honest Scotch servant, reveal themselves in their words and works. The second book brings us back to the banks of the Molyneux, where the shrewd Yankee goes far to remove the film from Will Enderby’s eyes in a few characteristic words. We, like all who read this rather short number, feel so much interested in Will’s story as to long to know what next ?