Books Reviewed

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 737, 9 August 1929, Page 14

Books Reviewed

THE GALAXY CUSAN ERTZ will add to her welldeserved reputation as one of our best women writers with her new novel “The Galaxy.” And yet it is more than a novel. On its canvas it vividly depicts the social acitvity of three reigns. When Laura Alicia Deverell was born, the Crimean War was just being forgotten, the Prince Consort was still being mourned', bustles were considered de rigueur, antimacassars reposed on plush chairs and the pre-Raphaelites were in the boom. Laura grew up in a Victorian home' that stayed aggressively Victorian until she left it, greatly to her impossible father’s disgust, to marry into trade; “trade” being a prosperous ammunition manufacturing concern that gave her an assured position, every luxury and a title! Leighton, the husband, however, proved a doubtful bargain, preferring to pluck blossoms where he found them. Two children were born of the union. Aud then came a lover to the ill-used, dutiful Laura; a cultured man, half English, half German. The suspicions of her husband and the fear that publicity might prejudice the success of her children caused a temporary break iu the liaison. But when her son reached the age of 21, Laura left her husband to set up an establishment with the man of her choice. By this time her daughter was married aud her sou sufficiently understanding to give his mother a blessing. Then came the war. Laura’s lover was interned. Her son was killed. Step by step we follow her tragic and yet not altogether unhappy life. And as we move forward with Laura to her emancipation so we see the world moving forward. The Edwardians slough the dreadful conventionality of the Victorians. The last of the prejudices of the Edwardian era slides into limbo as the neo-Georgians take over the running. And then the war sends the world blindly in search of nepenthe. Each change is recorded in a few pithy sentences that carry the reader forward five, ten or fifteen years with a smoothness and interest that speak volumes for the ability of Susan Ertz. The characterisation is excellent and there is charm and dignity about the book. The impression that remains at the end is one of admiration for the masterly way in which Clio has been co-opted, as it were, to assist in the telling of a rich tale. “The Galaxy.” Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd., London and Sydney. Our copy from the publishers' Australian representative. For Investors Of immense value to all business men, especially those who are feeling their way in the field of investments, the “Financial Chart,” devised by Wilfrid H. Hemingway, F.C.P.A., and published by Hemingway’s Correspondence Schools, should be widely studied. Based on 30 years’ active experience, the chart shows business owners, managers, executives, bankers, solicitors, and investors how to take the balance sheet and profit-and-loss statements of any concern, and to read therefrom the inside picture of financial structure, management, and condition.

No knowledge of book-keeping methods or accounting technique is required to use the chart. In brief, every-day terms it gives simple formulae for arriving at a firm's position. “Interpreting Trading Results Financial Chart,” by Wilfrid H. Hemingway. Our copy comes to hand from the publishers. Hemingway’s Correspondence Schools. A “Western Yarn” Just how good a really good “Western Yarn” can be is proved by William McLeod Raine’s latest production, “Texas Man.” It is a thrilling story beginning in the very early days of Texas and bringing the reader up to those times when the smell Of gun powder was the predominating odour in the landscape of Western America. Boone Sibley, born and bred in Texas, rides one day into Tough Nut, the roughest town in the district. Almost at once, by bad luck, he makes enemies of a gang of gunmen, who invite him to move on as quickly as possible. Interested by the invitation, he decides to settle down, but finds that life is rather not exactly peaceful. A stage driver is killed and the blame Js forced on Sibley. He fights his way through a crowd seeking to lynch him and, after establishing his innocence, sets out to destroy the gang which has been trying to kill him. Mr. Raine tells the whole story in his usual colourful, realistic style. Mr. Raine has added to his reputation as a teller of Western tales. “Texas Man,” by William McLeod Raine. Published by Hodder and Stoughton, London. Our copy from their Sydney agents. From Gutter to Greatness.

Taken from the streets ot New York, and befriended by a writer who is under sentence of death from the dreaded T. 8., Carmelita Sancher fills many roles before finally emerging as an operatic star with all the world at her feet. In telling the story of this modern Nell Gwyn, Frederick Jackson shows that he has a pen which at times he wields with Zolaesque bluntness. The pictures of life in the Latin Quarter of Paris are not badly done, but there is a slight tendency to philosophise too much and some ot the characters are not essential. Notwithstanding these blemishes of construction, it is a story that will be read with interest. “Into This Universe.’ 9 Frederick Jackson Jarrolds. Our copy from the publishers, Mr Erskine Again. Mr Erskine has been correcting earlier impressions of the “Odyssey.” He concedes that Ulysses was the genius that compassed the fall of Troy, and permits the hero to give his own modest account of the achievement—and in fact of all subsequent events in his 10 years philandering on the homeward journey to Penelope, weaving, if not grievin*. in Ithaca. Philandering is Mr Erskine’s judgment, not Homer’s. He finds ilt human, If not Homeric, to dally on the isle of Calypso. “Penelope’s Man” is the most amiable, chuckling satire. “Penelope’s Man.*’ John Erskine. Evelelgli Nash and Grayson, London. Our copjr through Whitcombe and Tombs, Ltd. Metamorphosis of an X-Chaser. Cattle and the calculus don’t mix, as Scott Morrison, an earnest and ambitious student with a weak chest, found when he tried recruiting his health among the cowpunchers and keeping up his studies at the same time. How he abandoned mathematics temporarily for an exciting hunt for a herd of bulls which clever thieves had “rustled” from under his studious nose is well told in B. M. Bower’s latest Western novel. Scott was no weakling, be it said, so it was not surprising that in the end he rode triumphantly home with the missing herd, five dejected villains tied to their horses, and a fair “co-ed.” to help him pass his exams. “The Swallowfork Bulls.” B. M. Bower. Hodder and Stoughton. Our copy from the publishers* Australian representative.