NEW BOOKS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 3, Issue 661, 13 October 1933, Page 3

NEW BOOKS

"RESTLESS EARTH." Among the new books received this month is "Restless Earth," by W. Graeme Holder. This is the first volume placed upon the market by the Associated N.Z. Authors' and Publishers' Co., Auckland, and is to hand from Messrs. E. Pratt and Co., booksellers, Arawa St., Rotorua. The hook should be received with pleasure by the New Zealand public, not particularly upon its intrinsic merit, but also because it is a venture by a firm which is prepared to exploit and encourage the development of the literary talent which undouhtedly exists in our own country. Although we have not the wealth of historical tradition which is necessarily associated with the older countries of the world, there is, nevertheless, a rich

store ot romance here which' should, in time make New Zealand literature acceptable throughout the Empire. Mr Graeme Holder's "Restless Earth" is not a "best seller" by any means, but it is a siimple portrayal of the lives of average people which carries considerable charm. The tragedy of the great Hawke's Bay earthquake has been taken as the central theme of the story, which tells in a decidedly readable manner of a love dis agreement which led to a young married woman leaving her home in New Plymouth and having the miisfortune to be in Napier at the time of the great upheaval. As the stjory develops it shows how the great calamity awakens the hsuband to the knowledge of his true love for his wife. It describes his desperate dash for Hawke's Bay by taxi, the death of his little daughter, and the final reunion wiith his injured wife. The devotion and unselfishness of "the other woman" when she, too, has been awakened provides a feature in the tale of much interest. There are no ■oustanding evidenccs of lite?:ary genius in the hook. The languags is simple, the lives of the characters are simple, but there ds a portrayal of •everyday life, love and sacrifice which, as before remarked, carries considerable charm for those who enjoy a story of people who actually exist and who are not born of a fertile imagination. Furthermore, the volume is placed on the market at 2s 6d, it is well hound and cover ed and proves that high-class work can be turned out in New Zealand without going overseas for assistance.