Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 583, 8 February 1929, Page 14

Books Reviewed

BLACK MAJESTY. Fortunate in his subject, Mr John W. Vandercock has scored a success in “Black Majesty,’* a study of Henry Cristophe, the negro monarch of Haiti. This extraordinary man was born a slave, bought his freedom as a waiter and billiardmarker in the Hotel de la Couronne, Saint Domingue, and became rebel leader, soldier, liberator, law-giver, and tyrant—one of those tyrants who die saying, “I perish by this people which I made.’* His tomb is the gigantically formidable citadel, “La Ferri6re„” reared on a seaward-facing brow of rock. Mr Vandercock has revelled in the picturesque, the romantic, the dramatic, and the melodramatic aspects of his subject; and they have coloured his style, but not too garishly. At its best it captures the reader, at its weakest it does not hinder his enjoyment of a really marvellous tale. Here, by the way. there is very well told the story of that heroic negro, Toussant L’Ouverture, whose name most people are too lazy to pursue from Wordsworth’s sonnet to history; and here is the story, also, of that other and terrible figure, Jean Jacques Dessaline3. But Henry Cristophe towers above all, in “black majesty”; and the last chapters, in which his fierce, sombre energy fought with growing desperation against the shortness of time for all it was straining to achieve, are particularly good. A vigorous piece of work, which deserves its popular success. “Black Majesty.” John \Y. Vandercock. Harper and Brothers. A.P.H. There is no chance of Mr. A. F. Herbert's humour ever being reduced to formulae. He is one of the most versatile of the lighter writers of our time. While it may be heresy to say so, the melancholy fact remains that many of the members of Mr. Punch’s staff turn out humorous articles that are like unto sardines that have jumped into the same tin of oil—rather hard to distinguish oue from the other. But this droll Herbert is a fellow of different calibre. We: never know what he’ll be up to next His effervescent creation Topsy—sh€: of the italics: “ My dear, it was positively too gangrenous ” —was almost as great a success as Anita Loos’s Lorelei. His “Misleading Cases in the Common Law,” read aloud, has prob- ; ably brought about more apoplectic | seizures than anything produced in I the post-Leacock period. In “Honey- | bubble and C 0.,” we come across Mr. i Herbert’s Mr. Honeybubble. well- ! known to readers of “Punch,” but the ; “Co.” portion includes many other diverting figures. In “Little Talks” 1 we are privileged to listen-in to the I conversation of little people and to I learn some of the secrets of suburbia. I Then we have Mr. Herbert’s ideas on i brighter cheques for the tired businessI man; a scheme which would make the

life of a bank teller at least endurable. And there is his manuscript that became all mixed up with hasty jottings of a domestic nature and his letter, written on his own fair typewriter (on. not l>y) to Mr. St. John Ervine. Both are joyous affairs. And we must j not overlook “Insincere Flatteries”— I parodies and progressions on old ! themes—equally diverting. ‘•Mr. Honeybubble and Co.” Methuen i ancl Co., Ltd., 26 Essex Street. London | W.C. A Poignant Play Mr. Percy Robinson's play “To What Red Hell” was first produced in 1926 under the title “For None Can Tell.” And from those two Hues, discerning ones should be able to piece together a line or two from “The Ballad of Reading Gaol”: For none can tell to what Red Hell His sightless soul may stray. This is a play dealing with a poignant situation as it affects two families. Mr. Robinson is a propangadist. He has a case to stale against capital punishment. But unlike so many writers with a mission he is dramatist lirst and propagandist second. A young girl following an old profession has been murdered. The deed was done by an epileptic youth, but suspicion falls damningly upon a young man who had been in the girl’s company earlier in the evening. Nothing unusual in that. But the relatives of the murderer elect to remain silent —although torn by the pangs of conscience—while the one relation of the other young man, his mother, is i forced to hear the strain of a mmvlpr

.orcea to Dear the strain o( a murder :rlal and the double strain of those j Ireadful days that elapse between the loaning of the black cap and the donning of a white bandage. It is a play that stirs the emotions freely and it is not surprising to learn that the tragic old mother was portrayed, in one production of the play, by Sara Allgood. The author has the theatre sense well developed and although the play is intensely dramatic it never steps over the ‘‘thick red line” into melodrama. ‘‘To What Red Hell.” G. P. Putnam’s Sons, Ltd., 24 Bedford Street, Strand, London W.C.2. Elocution An authority on elocution, Mr. John Rigg—a former member of the Legislative Council of New Zealand and author of several useful guides to public speaking and correct procedure at public meetings—has produced a very useful little book, suitable for schools, on the subject of correct speech. The book is an abridgement of Mr. Rigg’s “Elocution and Public Speaking,” with an added chapter on phonetics. There are many schoolmasters in New Zealand who are determined that their pupils shall leave school with a good knowledge of the King’s English as it is written, but the masters who insist that it shall be spoken correctly (or who speak it correctly, for that matter) are fewer in number. A book of this kind would be of value, for classroom purposes, to teachers who have realised the necessity of taking precautionary measures against the crimes of murder and mayhem that arre so frequently perpetrated on the defenceless vowel family. “Elocution for Schools.” George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., London. Foster-Mother Love The influence of a golden-haired child on the hearts and fortunes of four interesting people has given Miss Ruby M. Ayres yet another Impulse. The result is “The Family,” a light but readable little tale. Chuckles, the leading character, is orphaned in Africa. Nau Gale, his mother’s companion, adopts him and, on her return to England, pretends he is her son. “The family” discover her secret and she flees, but the boy takes ill and pines for her. Finally she is discovered by Giles,

one of “the family,” who falls in love with her. The house takes fire and he is injured while rescuing Chuckles, but the misunderstandings of everyone are explained away and the story ends happily. Admirers of Ruby Ayres may rest assured that her latest effort is equal to anything offered in the past. “The Family,” Hodder rmd Stouerhton, London. Our copy from W. S. Smart, Sydney. A Splendid Mystery “The body, that of a man whose age was anything between forty-eight and sixty, was seated with a posture most dreadfully natural, but across the left side of the neck, running from a point two inches behind the jugular to one three inches before it. was a great, clean-edged, gaping cut, deep and crimson. The head lolled in a way curiously awful, to the side far from the wound. “And —the crowning horror—this thing which had been a man -was . . .” What that horror was and how it gave Colonel Anthony Gethryn the clue to the secret of the murder makes “The White Crow” one of the best of modern detective stories. For of course, it was a murder and one that seemed insoluble until, by a combination of luck and brains — though mostly by brains—Gethryn traced the murderers. For once we have a story in which the police play a willing and grateful part. Sherlock Holmes, it will be remembered, looked down on the professional detective and was too scornful for words when Scotland Yard was

mentioned. In this book, however, the professionals work hand in hand with the amateur and the credit for the solution is as much due to them as to him. Of course there are innumerable false clues to be followed up and at least one purely incidental murder, but it is safe to say that if the reader is sufficiently clever he, or she, can put the book down just before the final chapter and by reviewing the evidence find the criminal. But the reader must be very clever, indeed. The book is full of excitements and unexpectednesses. The title, “The White Crow,” appears to have no meaning until about half way through but then it assumes a magnificent importance. “Tlie White Crow," by Philip Macdonald. Published by W. Collins, Sons and Company, Limited. Our copy direct from the publishers. A “N ice” Book The problems that beset an innocent young girl who feels that, for the sake of her family, she ought to marry a man who is old enough to be her father and whom she does not love, are dealt with in Pamela Wynne’s latest novel, “Under the Mosquito Curtain.” Dandelion Davison is the innocent young girl and Sir Frere Manwaring the wealthy suitor. Dandelion’s father is a retired Indian civil servant with a small pension. Hence “the situation.” The emotional vicissitudes that Dandelion undergoes before she finally makes up her mind to marry occupy the first half of the book and the second is taken up with describing her adventures in India after marriage, her love affair with a young officer and her eventual reconciliation with her husband. The book makes pleasant enough reading, although the author’s use of the word “nice” is irritating. To Miss Wynne everything is “nice” and the word breaks loose and riots over page after page. “Under the Mosquito Curtain,’’ by Pamela Wynne. Philip Allen and Company, Ltd., London. Our copy from Dymock’s Book Arcade, Sydney. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED An Art Portfolio.—-The O’Brien Publicity Company’s Art Portfolio is just produced. A striking and entirely novel cover gives promise of interesting contents —and the promise is fulfilled. The portfolio contains specimens of the work turned out by the commercial art staff of the company, work of a very high order.