A BRILLIANT BEAUCHAMP

Otaki Mail, 29 September 1922, Page 4

A BRILLIANT BEAUCHAMP

The London correspondents tell us that Harold Beauchamp, whose name is inseparably connected with the Bank ot' New Znalnad, has been staving at New Ernest with his two daughters, - and then the group went over to Paris Itn meet the brilliant Beauchamp who lias won fame for the family as Katherine Mansfield (her two given names), a story writer with an international reputafion. la private life she is Mrs Middleton Murry, wife of one of London youngest and foremost literarycritics, assayists and magazine editors jof the serious class. Mrs Murry, who 1“ enjoys poor health,’’ spends most of hur time these days in salubrious Italy. It is as a writer ol’ short stories dealing with life and character in the smart sot and in the pensions (or lodging j houses) of health resorts on the Continent that Katherine Mansfield Beauj champ .Murry shines, and two coJlec- | lions of tloose stories have already gone on to the bookshelves in permanent form. Garvin’s “Sunday Observer” said of her latest book. “The Garden Party,” that it showed “wonderful -•and sensitive vitality,” and noted the sureness of her imaginative handling not only of place and circumstances, '.but of character.” The “Outlook” | calls her “a very great short story writer.” This is proved by the fact that last year she "as the runner-up for a big literary laurel bestowed by a French group of critics, Kath. Beauchamp began her writing in Wellington when a girl of 16 or 17 years of age. but hid her light for years. It wa? a family secret. In those days she wrote delight ful poetry, and she has the rare distinction of having placed the whole of her first batch of stories and verse accepted by the magazines in London, New York and Melbourne to which they were sent. Then she took her talents to London, whilst still in her • teens —she has not looked back since—- . and she is still a young woman. There '» is another brilliant Beauchamp, a Melbourne cousin, who first won fame with her book, “Elizabeth and Her Garden. ’ ’ Mrs Murry is a niece of Mr H. L. Beauchamp, of Te Horo.