Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 323, 7 April 1928, Page 19

Books Reviewed

THE OLD TREE. ET. RAYMOND has at last given us something of what was promised in “Tell England,” and what much of his later writings has denied. “The Old Tree Blossomed” is at the very least a well-written story, in which people who might quite well exist —in fact, they do exist—act quite normally. Gallimore Senior, with his weathervane temperament, and his pride in a probably imaginary line of noble ancestors, is a fine bit of characterdrawing. His wife, type of thousands of self-sacrificing women who give everything and get nothing, must arouse everyone’s sympathy. Stephen, the last fine flower of the family tree, is a rather nebulous figure. We know much of his thoughts, both of his loves, but somehow when lie is a clerk he does not live before our eyes as do his parents. Later, at the war, when he tastes the sort of life for which lie is built and realises the comparative squalor of much of that to which he is accumtomed, we see his better side. And when we see him die, hating the thought of death, living life more than ever and yet wanting to die to prove to others and to himself that , he is the very “Sheath-of-Death” of j his name—then we begin to know i Stephen. Perhaps he is hard to know j because he is true to type, a type hard ■ to know; for in his death we see the j thoughts and ideals that there are, deeply hidden, in so manjr imaginative men. It is after Stephen’s death, when the retired Mr Gallimore has turned to the greek ideal in art and life and has forgotten politics, that we see the best

in him; and when we recognise him as one of the newest branches of “the old tree.” The women, the artist and her friend, are less satisfactory; but they are, after all, only incidental. Altogether, we must thank Mr Raymond for a very enjoyable book. “The Old Tree Blossomed.” Ernest Raymond. Cassell and Co., Ltd. Our copy from the publishers. “Chuckles” One of the finest books published for young people in recent years (and the “grown-ups” may recall their own childhood by reading it, too) is “Chuckles,” by an understanding soul, Margaret L. Gower. “Chuckles” was

born laughing and continued to laugh though what he had to laugh over—with his brother a cripple and his father neglectful—is known only to himself. It is an intimate study of the mind of a child and of a child's attitude to things domestic —including gardeners, housemaids and other folk who are a perpetual source of wonder to small boys. The advent into his lonely life of Goldie and four other children increases the capacity of ‘“Chuckles” for happiness and the cup is filled when liis father arrives home with his brother, cured and a cripple no longer, and advises, in addition, his impending marriage to the completelydesirable Goldie. The book is illustrated with characteristic drawings by George Morrow.

“Chuckles.” Methuen and Co., Ltd. London. Our copy direct from the pub Ushers.

Kidnapping and High, Finance, Two big men from “the city”—one I i>f them a peer—a two-thousand-ton motor yacht, and an attractive young woman are the materials from which Arnold Bennett builds up a thin, but exciting comedy in his latest book. Lord Furber, financier number one and owner of the yacht Vanguard, kidnaps Septimus Sutherland, financier number two, by enticing him aboard and sailing off with him. By accident, Harriet Perkins also is taken. Sutherland is already in love with her and Furber soon is—both the men are comfortably married, by the way. After that, it is Harriet who carries along the story. There isn’t much in it; but it is well told. “The Strange Vanguard.” Arnold Bennett. Cassell. Our copy through Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd.