BOOKS OF THE DAY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20110, 2 December 1939, Page 16

BOOKS OF THE DAY

New Hugh Walpole Novel In the “Herries" Manner

A NEW Hugh Walpole novel has for a . long time been considered an event in the fiction-reading world. “The Joyful Delaneys” gave one the uncomfortable feeling that this competent author was, perhaps, being affected by the miasma of decadence which has overlaid the greater portion of English fiction for the last two decades.

With his latest work, “The Sea Tower.” however, Mr. Walpole returns to his earlier manner —the manner which made so impressive his “Herries” series, “The Duchess of Wrexe," and many another good novel. Here he creates again that faintly sinister atmosphere. The canvas he chooses is of moderate dimensions, but his colours, rich, and for the most part sombre, are applied with such skill that the final effect is one of depth and intensity.

The action centres in the Field family.

This afmily has lived at Scarlatt, an East Coast farm, for generations. Two sons have grown up to carry on the family traditions. When the story opens, Joe, the younger, is on his way back from London with a beautiful young wife. Through his conversation with her on a cold and draughty station, the reader is introduced to the members of the household of which she is soon to become a part.

Joe conjures up a vivid, but, to a young bride, somewhat alarming, picture of his family circle. One recognises, immediately, that his mother is a possessive \voman, hungry for power, kind, but always with ulterior motives, and intensely egotistical. Congreve, the brother, is a vague figure, as yet. Archer Field, Joe’s father, also remains nebulous in this first glimpse. Captain Green, Joe’s great friend, a man who came to Scarlatt for a brief visit and remained indefinitely, is presented life-size. Matty, Mrs. Field’s spinster sister, hovers in the background. The Mother-in-Law Again

Having skilfully set the stage and got his characters in place, Mr. Walpole proceeds to devote the major part of his attention to Joe and his bride. Christina is an extraordinarily lovely girl. She is also intelligent. She is instantly aware, from Joe's description of his family, that her mother-in-law may very easily threaten her happiness. The arrival at Scarlatt confirms her instinctive fear and crystallises a resolution to resist this woman’s domination to the utmost. The meeting between the two women is fraught with instant but veiled antagonism. The older woman surveys her new daughter-in-law with outward approval and inward apprehension—she is armed with potent weapons!

Because she felt that a momentary slackening of her hold on her beloved younger son might subsequently strengthen her grip, Mrs. Field had sent Joe to London to study the technical side of agriculture. He was already managing Scarlatt competently, but, since he would own it some day, she thought that the extra knowledge would be useful and the brief change of scene a stimulus to effort and a fresh chain to bind him to her. She knew +hat he was deeply wedded to his own soil. Threat to Supremacy

But she had not counted upon Christina. The intrusion of this threat to her supremacy set up a peculiar and dangerous condition in her agemg mind. . In late middle-age she was quite unable to adjust herself with any sublety or flexibility to a young and well-beloved rival.

In spite of interest in the other characters, one is constantly aware of the growing tension between Christina and her mother-in-law. The bride’s spirits rise and fall, but her courage and determination never waver. She is quick to sense any threat to her happiness, and to her sovereignty over Joe. She gathers knowledge from the other members of the houshold, all the time conscious of the cloud of distrust and dislike that gathers over Scarlatt.

Her beauty gains depth and significance in the struggle. The ineftectua 1 Congreve lights a small taper of inspiration and courage at this flame. The gregarious Captain Green, ever in search of some new feminine charm, is consumed by it. and reaches th° bitter conclusion that, since Christina cannot be his. life holds no further interest for him.

Long before the last swift movement towards a climax is reached, the reader is intimately acquainted with these very human characters. With admirable timing Mr. Walpole produces his effects. The denouement comes swiftly and with complete logicality. The atmosphere thickens and darkens perceptibly with the changing psychological condition of the various members of the cast. One is made fully conscious of impending tragedy; but from which direction the blow will be launched remains uncertain until the very moment of its fall. The end is inevitable. Stranger Titan Fiction

■THE events in “Supercargo,” by Earl 1 Whitehorne, are based on facts, but the realities described are often more remarkable than any writer of fiction could have imagined.

"Supercargo” is certainly one of the most remarkable sea tragedies ever Denned. Mr. Whitehorne, the author, is the son of the captain's clerk aboard a naval sloop stationed in Japan in 18C8, and from the clerk's writings has come this truly amazing account of how John Douglas brought the sailing ship, Cayolte, from South Africa to China almost single-handed, after the coolies aboard her mutinied, murdering all the white members of the crew, captain included, except Douglas. How he escaped the fate of his companions, quelled subsequent mutinies and sailed the Cayolte to the shores of North Japan is as exciting a piece of sea story telling as can be imagined.

Singing Sands £)R. lIALLIDAY SUTHERLAND, the author of “Arches of the Years,” once again leaves his many friends deeply in his, debt. He recently visited the Hebrides and in his book, "Hebridean Journey," he tells the story of his holiday. He not only describes places, records legends, but still retains that gift of interpretation and getting the best out of other people which is characteristic of his literary work. Dr. Halliday Sutherland travels by small steamer amongst the islands, lands and stops when so inclined and. while he throws fresh light on Skye and lona, it is the unusual which affords him the greatest pleasure. In his chapter, “The Singing Sands," he writes:—

“I saw one of the wonders of the world—the Singing Sands, which are found, so far as l know, in only one other place, namely, at Manchester, on Massachusetts Bay, U.S.A. The Singing Sands are in a small bay to me north of the Bay of Laig and are reached by descending a rather sieep ravine with grassy sides. Down the side of this double incline both Father Campbell and Growler, his West Highland terrier, were at their ease, but I preferred to descend on the bed of a dried-up stream which served as • a crude staircase at the bottom of the ravine.

“Fortunately, the tide was half out, because the sands only sing when dry. When you walk, or better when you .slide your feet, over this sand it emits a long musical note—ooh, ooh —and this note is also obtained by stroking the surface of the sand with the palm of the hand. This is a fine grained quartz sand, the grains being circular in outline, and the sound is due to friction between the grains and to the minute air-pockets around them.” Days Before the Civil War “MO SOUTHERN GENTLEMAN,” by Maurice Griffiths, is a notable novel of the years just prior to the Civil War in America. There are many these days who do not read “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” because they consider it too sentimental and emotional, and such readers', of fiction can be advised to make up for this reluctance —which is not to be commended—by putting “No Southern Gentleman” on their library list. It records the story of Torrance, a young English doctor who takes up a medical career in the south and who, though tolerant of slavery at first, is quickly aroused and joins in the agitation for abolition. Mr. Griffiths is at his best in describing the negro characters—one of them is bought by Torrance and made iree, only to refuse his liberty to -■ecome the doctor’s faithful servant, while another who is charged with a minor offence at the local court is the aero of a delightful chapter. Torrance weds the daughter of a slaveowner, which makes complica--ons at first, and the story ends 01. a tragic note when the town in which Torrance lives surrenders to the northern general owing to the ravages of the plague. No Loose Teeth “YyiND IN THE WIRES,” by Cap- • tain Duncan Grinnell-Milne, is the story of his experiences with the R.F.C. in France —the author is one of the few men who successfully escaped from a German prison camp. The story is described by Flight as a war story in a class, by itself. Captain Grinnell-Milne writes: — “At some time during the Great War Mr. Rudyard Kipling wrote a number of verses dedicated to various categories of people engaged in the struggle. In a moment of poetic aberration he wrote of a young pilot diving through clouds, ‘his milk teeth yet unshed. . . ' Merciful heavens! we were young, but not that childish . . . there were no loose teeth in Gilly’s squadron.” The author then goes on to describe an aerial adventure of which he says concerning his teeth: “I would assuredly have lost the whole galaxy.” As a story of the air it stands in a class by itself. Books in Demand WEEKLY list provided by Mis.-, Brenda S. Cox, Librarian, Turaoganui Library:— FICTION. DANGEROUS CURVES, by Peter Cheyney. SHABBY SUMMER, by Warwick Deeping. / HOP, STEP AND JUMP, by Winifred ' Watson. SPRING JOURNEY, by Geneva Stephenson. GREEN GROWS THE CITY, by Beverley Nichols. AFTER MANY A SUMMER, by Aldous Huxley. , CANCELLED IN RED. by Hugh Pentecost. THE ARROGANT HISTORY OF WHITE BEN, by Clemence Dane. LOVE IN THE SUN, by Leo Walmslev. FATAL VENTURE, by Freeman Wills Crofts. NON-FICTION. CRIMEA, by C. E. Vulliamy. RED HORIZONS, by George Digby THE LOVELY QUAKER, by John Lindsey. ADVENTURES ASHORE AND

AFLOAT by Sir Roger Keyes. THE BLIND ROAD, by Forepoint

Severn. REACHING FOR THE STARS, by

Norah Wain. WE SAW IT HAPPEN, by Thirteen Corresponden's of the New York Times. SOUTH AFRICAN CINDERELLA, by Rex Harding. \ WE DIVE AT DAWN, by Lt.-Comm. Kenneth Edwards.