Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 565, 18 January 1929, Page 14

Books Reviewed

EARONESS ORCZY AGAIN. IT WILL, come almost as a shock to tile unnumbered thousands who have read and loved her stories of 18th-century France to see on the dustcover of the Baroness Orczy’s latest novel a young man—in the shirtsleeves and sombrero of the West! The creator of the Scarlet Pimpernel writing a “Western”? Not exactly; for this story owes its conception to two things—a tour in Canada, the beauties of which obviously made a deep impression upon the Baroness, and the history of a young man who, overtaken by misfortune and his own

folly in the Old Country, made good in that great Dominion. It is a magnificent story, and one that has the merit of being, in the author’s own words, "a faithful and true record,” which aroused her “keenest interest and sympathy at the time that it occurred.” Baroness Orczy’s talent has never been more delightfully exercised. “Edue Eyes and Grey.” Baroness Orczy. Rodder and Stoughton. Our copy from the publishers’ Australian representative. “OLD COLONIAL BY-WAYS.” AREALLY charming volume is the result of collaboration by Sydney Ure Smith and C. H. Bertie in “Old Colonial By-ways.” Mr Smith’s pictures are excellent —some water-col-ours reproduced in colour, some in half-tone, etchings ill plenty, pencil drawings, and a woodcut or two. Mr Bertie is not above hanging a participle in mid-air or splitting an odd infinitive; but then his is the pleasant, si roller’s way—he has only to saunter where Mr Smith has pitched his easel and tei! us a little of the past which has left its mark on the scene. This he does very well, discoursing now of early Governors aud others who planted towns and villages and brought names from afar, old countries to fill the map of a new one, now of sturdy builders whose stout walls are their monument, now of the mushroom growth of diggings towns, their flourishing, their decline. There is enough of this agreeable talk to carry the pictures, and wisely, no more than enough. These are beautifully reproduced and worthy of the care which has been taken. Everyone who buys this book —and it deserves a large sale —will find his own favourites among th e 00 plates and more which adorn it; but certainly many eyes will be held by the beautifully balanced “Rose’s Mill, Mount Gilead” (Plate 63), by the fine breadth and simplicity of Plate 26, a view of thp Hawkesburv River at Windsor, to mention two only. “Old Onion!..’ By-ways.” illustrated by Sydney Lre Smith, written by Charles H. Bertie. Art in Australia, Ltd. Our copy from the publishers. On Safari Mention Tibet and one thinks of Younghusband; Central Asia and the mind conjures up the magic names rd Ossendowski and Sven Hedin; the

Pacific, and a round dozen of jolly wanderers are recalled. Mention lions and the thrills of a safari in Africa — and who but Martin Johnson should be named? Martin Johnson and his intrepid wife not only shoot lions and rhinoceroses and hippopotami In the approved manner, with a rifle, but they also shoot them (to say nothing of okapi and zebras and crocodiles) in the modern sense of the word—with a cinema camera. “Martin Johnson: Lion Hunter,” by Fitzhugh Green, tells in tabloid form some of the mighty hunting adventures of this American Nimrod who ran away to Europe as a lad, shipped as a cook with Jack London on the famous cruise of The Snark, hunted wild animals in Borneo, tamed wild head-hunters in the Solomons, actually photographed one of their skilled “eurers” toasting human

heads on a prong over a slow fire, and founded a home for himself overlooking the most inaccessible, and probably the most beautiful, lake in Africa whence he might trek all over a mighty continent in search of thrills. Mr. Johnson has the temperament for this sort of thing. A master of detail, a shrewd judge of men, a firm but. kindly monarch among his black servitors, a fearless hunter, a monument of patience, a good loser, he is, without going further—a remarkable man. Mr. Green has done justice to his subject and we learn much of an extraordinary career which has fascinated a million newspaper readers, the world over, who prefer to hunt their lions vicariously and pot their hippopotami at second hand. The book is illustrated from the remarkable photographs of the indefatigable Mr. Johnson. A companion volume “Three Boy flouts in Africa,” deals with the experiences of three healthy and likeable youngsters—Robert Dick Douglas, David R. Martin and Douglas L. Oliver who had the good fortune to be chosen from 600,000 American boy scouts to accompany Martin Johnson on a six weeks’ safari in the wild game country of Africa. A book to delight all healthy boys. "Martin Johnson; Lion Hunter” and “Three Boy Scouts in Africa.” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Ltd., London. Our copy from the publishers. A New Zealander's Novel Another New Zealander joins the ranks of the novelists—Mr. Monte Hoicroft, for some time on the staff of the “Weekly Press.” His novel of the South Seas, “Beyond the Breakers,” has been published by John Long. Thi# is not the usual story of shipwrecked lovers who make a marriage vow in the shade of the frangipanni tree and proceed to live a bluelagoon existence on yams and pawpaw. An island setting has been effectively used as a background to a psychological study of a group of persons, isolated in peculiar circumstances. The Gruzman family owns a small island in the Pacific. Gruzman, senior, is senile and an invalid, but strives to retain, in his exile, some of the courtliness of another age. His three sons are strange, morose fellows. They, an Australian girl who, in search of adventure, has accepted a post as companion-nurse to Gruzman pere, a Pacific trader, the wreck of whose cutter has forced him as a guest to claim the unwilling hospitality of the Gruzmans, and one or two other characters—all well drawn—complete a group living in this bizarre household. The sifting of the good from the evil in this strange mixture of human beings is an interesting process and Mr. Holcroft has gone about the business with zest. There is something of the macabre atmosphere on this island that Mr. Dale Collins introduced into his grim story of *a yacht commanded by a sinister steward. In claiming that this is an excellently-told story, of marked premise, we are not merely going out of our way to be generous to a New Zealander. Mr. Holcroft need feel no hesitation about offering this healthv first-born for public approval. ''Beyond the Breakers.” John Long, 34-35-36 Paternoster Row, London’, Shot as a Spy As a background for a thrilling tale, Espionage has no rival. And when a writer as competent as Mr. Temple Thurston essays the weaving of the tale we can sit back with the comfortable glow of anticipation that was ours in the old days when we opened the Strand” to read the latest exploit of one Mr. Sherlock Holmes. Mr. Thurston’s “Portrait of a Spy” is a very fine piece of work, written w.th restraint by a craftsman and possessing real literary quality. There is nothing slipshod about Mr. Thurston’s work. His prose is polished, his characters are never filled with sawdust; his backgrounds are deftly, and occasionally brilliantly, etched. The story in this case is presumably based, in ; part, on the life of Mata Hari, the beautiful half-caste Javanese dancer who was shot as a spy in Paris. It traces the early life of the potential spy, her struggles as a cabaret performer. her achievement of “stardom” j —and her debacle. Mr. Thurston has i introduced the infatuation of an EngI lisli artist of cosmopolitan tendencies

j to supply that necessai'y “tang” to a ! story with Paris as it milieu The i final phase of the tragedy is handled | with a masterly touch. ; “Portrait of a Spy.” G. P. Putnam's, • Ltd., London. Our copy from the publishers. Poems of Patriotism Marred in many places by the faults with which haste scars literary work, the poetry of the late George Essex Evans has, nevertheless, won for him a secure place among Australia’s literary pioneers. % He died in 1909, after a strenuous life spent in farming, school teaching, and journalism, and | now, after a lapse of 20 years, his colI lected poems have been published j through the piety of his friends and admirers. ! Evans was ever impressed by the I social phenomena of England’s pioneering, and nothing gave him greater joy than the contemplation of the success of these great experiments. Filled with ardent patriotism, he sang often of the power of the Empire, and there was a shriller note in his work during times of trial. In a poem on the death of New Zealand’s Richard John Seddon, he writes: When from his place a forest monarch falls, A thunder shakes the leafy leagues across, Reverberating to its utmost walls ; So through an Empire rings this 'sound of loss. The poet has written on softer themes with careful grace, and his collected work is for the most part the reflection of a robust and humane spirit. “Collected Verse of George Essex I Evans.” Angus and Robertson, Sydnev. j Our Copy from the publishers, i i PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED “A Book of Empire Dinners.” —Comprising seasonable menus for each month of the year. Issued by the Empire Marketing Board, Westminster. Our copy from Mr. R. S. Forsyth, New Zealand representative on the board. The recipes are by famous chefs, the menus by famous restaurateurs. One of the menus has been devised by the Chef de Cuisine to the Royal Household. "The New Zealand Open-Air School.”—An illustrated brochure on a i subject that is of great interest to parents of young children in this country. 12pp. Open Air Schools League, P.O. Box 1177, Christchurch.