Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 287, 24 February 1928, Page 14

Books Reviewed

Horror. The mysterious title of Mr Edward Lucas White’s book of stories,.“Lukundoo,” turns out to be the Mang-Battu w’ord for witchcraft; and the book pays in full, pays thrice over, every promise of the title. There are 10 stories; only two can be read without at least an inner tremble of terror, without huddling a little closer in the safe arms of the arm-chair. One of those is the tale of a child lost and recovered by the strange guidance of a picture-puzzle; the other, of love, treachery, battle, and a magic sword in old Iceland. The rest are ingeniously varied attacks on one’s peace of mind. “The House of the Nightmare” is a ghost story which cunningly reserves the coldest shiver and the sharpest catch of the breath to the last. In “Alfandega 49A,” an original plot makes us share the fear of a deadly blow about to strike down a friend far away, and the shock of learning that it has fallen. “The Snout” is an elaborate and tensely sustained study in fantastic horror, “Amiha,” a brief one in the shuddering contact of normal life with the horrible. “The Pigskin Belt” is an exciting mystery with a happy ending; but easily the most powerful, indeed the most repulsive yet fascinating, of these stories is “Lukundoo,” so darkly gruesome that only a very stony reader will be able to keep his nerves from twitching in physical protest. This is not a story to be read just before going to bed. “Lukundoo.” Edward Lucas White. Ernest Benn, Ltd. Our copy from the publisher. An Unusual Novel. Miss E. H. Young is, one would judge, an authoress who writes because she wants to, for very obviously, she does not try to please all of her readers all the time. In her story of the Caniper family, and their isolated life in the memoryhaunted house on the moor, she shows how Helen, much the most attractive figure in the book, has always with her the fear of too-high hopes. Always she is afraid of something coming between her and happiness, even when she is betrothed to Zebedee, the country doctor. Her premonition is justified, for Miriam, her sister, who loves to play with fire, compromises herself, and to save her Helen has to marry George Halkett, a harddrinking moor farmer. Miss Young has a gift for keeping a situation on a highly keyed-up note, and she is rather inclined to overdo this high tragedy business; for incidents that require no particular emphasis are unduly impressed upon one, and consequently the story suffers from lack of contrast. Mildred Caniper, the step-mother, whose life has been embittered by a lie, is a well-drawn figure, as, indeed, are all the women in the book. The men, however, remain a little vague, and George Halkett one feels to be a little overdone. In spite of this, “Moor Fires,” once published by John Murray, and now taken over by Jonathan Cape, is a novel of quality, strongly written, and head and shoulders above the general run of fiction. “Moor Fires.” E. H. Young. Jonathan Cape. Our copy from the publisher. For Amateur Mariners. Now available in the popular Travellers’ Library is Arthur Ransome's delightful account of a yachtsman's holiday in the Baltic, “Rpcundra’s First Cruise.” Made from Riga to Helsingfors and back after the yachting season was supposed to have t?nded, this voyage proved the author’s boat to be as seaworthy as the best, and his full structural description will make a special appeal to all who have been or hope to be yachtsmen. But the story of the cruise itself has a far wider appeal: it holds the interest of the most land-lubbery landsman. Our copy comes from the publisher. Verse and Essays. Essays on nature which lapse into philosophy and verses, for the most part religious, are the contents of a little book written by Marjorie Weatherly. The book is very well produced, and most of its illustrations, in colour or photographic. are quite charming;. The descriptive writing is

well done and the poems are quite up to the not very exacting standards of minor poetry on similar subjects. But they show deeper religious feeling than is common in such verse. The book makes a handy present. “Voices From My Garden.” Marjorie Weatherly. Robertson and Mullens. Oor copy from the publishers. "Mark Rutherford's” Masterpiece. Arnold Bennett, a few years ago, said that if of two men one asked where was the finest modern prose to be found and the other replied “In ‘The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane’ ” the sympathy was established between them of those who know a rare truth. H. W. Massingham said of “Mark Rutherford,” or William Hale White, that in him English Puritanism had produced its one imaginative genius of the highest order since Bunyan: "To my mind our fiction contains no more perfectly drawn pictures of English life in its recurring emotional contrast of excitement and repose more valuable to the historian or more stimulating to the imaginative reader.” The quotation aptly appears on the jacket of “The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane,” now reissued by Jonathan Cape in “The Traveller’s Library.” The book is “Mark Rutherford’s” masterpiece, and a neglected classic. "The Revolution in Tanner’s Lane.” Mark Rutherford. Jonathan Cape: "The Travellers’ Library.” Our copy from the publisher. An Australian Story. The story of Rose O’Meare’s experiences in the Australian bush, as told by James Pollard, is interesting and entertaining. She finds a new thrill in her association with Steve Morgan, manager on her uncle’s farm, and a typical Australian. Steve’s inborn manliness and knowledge of bush-life appeal to her, and comparing him with her town-bred male friends, she declares in Steve’s favour. The inevitable love story runs on the heels of her admiration, and Steve and she become lovers. Strenuous opposition is declared by the old uncle, but it works out all right in a good finish. No one can cavil at this story. It is good and clean and essentially Australian. "Rose of the Bushlands.” James Pollard. Hoddcr and Stoughton. Our copy from the Dublishers* Australian representative