AMONG THE BOOKS. {BY OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.) London, September.

Te Aroha News, Volume II, Issue 75, 8 November 1884, Page 4

AMONG THE BOOKS. {BY OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.) London, September.

The autumn publishing season commences this month, and from now till after Christmas the reviewers of the •• Atheneeum," "Academy," "Spectator," "Saturday Review," "Examiner," and other great critical journals will be kept hard at work. No especially remarkable works are promised in the immediate future, but early in October we shall have Lieutenant Greeley's account of his now world-famous Arctic Expedition, with full explanations or confessions as to the alleged cannibalism. This should be one of the big literary sensations of what Yankees call the " fall " season, and Froude's final volume of the "Life of Carlyle"may be another. Miss Braddon's " Ishmael " was published last week. It is a capital novel, and will take its place as one of the most remarkable of the author's works. In it she has given a vivid picture of Paris under the second Empire, from the coup d'dat to 186 S. The hero is the son of the Comte de Caradec, a French nobleman who lives in a solitary chateau in Brittany. The Count's dearest friend elopes with his wife, the latter taking her infant son with her. The Count follows the pair, and, after killing his false friend in a duel, abandons wife and child to their fate. The Countess takes to a fast life, and soon dies of drink. The Count then consents to receive back his infant son, but treats him as an outcast, hating him because he has his false mother's blood in his veins. Thanks to the village cure's kindness, Raymond (that is the boy's name) gets a fair education, but as ho grows up, he finds his father's coldness unbearable, and runs away to Paris. Here he assumes the name of Ishmael, and becomes a stono-mason. His life amidst the bourgeois, his upward career, his enjoyments, his struggles, his sorrows, are all vividly described, intermingled with boldly-drawn pictures of historic scenes, worked into the story with consummate skill. To detail the plot further and tell the tale of Ishmael's unfortunate marriage, extraordinary success, and passionate love would be to deprive the reader of some of the pleasure derivable from Miss Braddon's latest romance. Suffice it to say that, though inferior as regards sensationalism to works like " Henry Dunbar " and "Phantom Fortune," it is superior to the majority of the author's later works, and will compare favourably indeed with such stories as " Asphodel " and " Vixen." Charles Reade's "A Perilous Secret" (better known to you as " Love or Money ") has not after all been brought out in threevolume form, but is running serially through " Temple Bar." This seems poor policy on the Messrs Ber-tley's part, for the story, besides having been printed in a number of newspapers, is perfectly well known through tho drama of the same name. Wilkie Collins has patched up and materially improved his new romance "I say, No !" since it appeared in the "People." As a murder-story, however, this novel can't compare with " Hand and Ring," by Anna Katharine Green, which has just been published in England at five shillings. Miss Green is rapidly becoming acile princcps in this style of tale. Clark Russell's "Jack's Courtship,' which has been running through " Longman's Magazine, for the last twelvemonths, draws to a close. I see he is to contribute the serial story to " Belgra via " next year. Tho title will be "A Strange Voyage." Messrs MacMillan have issued the first volume of their "English Illustrated Magazine." It is handsomely bound in sea-green cloth, and makes a splendid 7s 6d worth of miscellaneous reading and beautiful illustrations. Next year an attempt is to be made to make the letterpress of this maga zinc a little lighter. Hugh Conway, of "Called Back" fame, contributes the serial story which commences in October (the first number oi the new volume), aud will beentitled"AFamily Affair." Chattoand Windus have in the press for immediate production "The Lover's Creed," by Mrs Cashel Foley; "Foxglove Manor," by Robert Buchanan; "Beauty and the Beast," by Sarah Tytler ; and "Mei'cy Holland," by Julian Hawthorne. The best of these will probably be Miss Tytler's story, which has attracted considerable attention whilst running through "Good Words." I think I may fairly claim to have been one of the first to discover the now famous noveletto " Called Back." Directly it came out as Arrowsmith's Christmas Annual I recommended it favourably to your readers' notice. This was early in November last, and itwasnottill late in January that thesale of the little work really commenced. In recent letters I mentioned another shilling story of a most exciting and absorbing character, viz. , " The House on the Marsh," by Miss Florence Warden, a tale that rivets the reader's attention from the first page to the last. "The House on the Marsh" and Miss Anna Katherihe Green's " Levenworth Case " (aho a shilling) are now selling in tens of thousands, and, in a few weeks there will be a run on "At the World's Mercy," another novelette by Miss Warden, who, by the way, is also the author of "The White Witch," now running in the "Argosy," and "The Iron Hand," at present the loading attraction of "The Family Herald." "At the World's Mercy "is not quite such a sensational tale as " The House on the Marsh," but will wile away an odd hour or so pleasantly enough. The success of Miss Warden's tale has led many people to invest in other volumes of "The Family Herald Story-teller Series " Most of them, however, are trash like "Dora Sporn," which, nevertheless, must please a certain class of readers, for London booksellers tell me it and "Wife in Name Only" have an enormous sale. The circulation of " The Family Herald " averages 27.5,000,