“A GUEST OF LIFE”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1938, Page 5

“A GUEST OF LIFE”

NELLE SCANLAN’S NEW NOVEL. We have received from the publishers, Robert Hale, Ltd, London, a copy of Miss Nelle M. Scanlan’s latest Work of fiction entitled “A Guest of Life.’ The story tells of two young Englishmen who, driven by sets of circumstances over which they have, no control, set out to seek their fortunes in New Zealand. Their adventures make interesting reading though to a certain extent the imagination has to be stretched to make one or two of the sets of circumstances fit in to what in ordinary cases would happen. The humour and romance in the book, however, are brought out strongly and some of the characters are very human. The life in New Zealand of the two chief characters under such different and unfamiliar conditions to those experienced in England, is told in a most interesting manner, with humorous twists and with almost a tragic ending. Simon Grimstone, the spoilt member of the family, is a well-drawn character who finds that his selfishness and self conceit which were overlooked among his friends in England, were characteristics which made him unpopular with those with whom he was associated in a sheep station in New Zealand. The character of Phil Henn is the opposite of Simon. Phil, who comes to New Zealand as an orphan with Simon, wants some day to own his own house and piece of land and he finally achieves this at Day’s Bay. He wa| a solitary figure and made no friends. Yet there was a solid foundation to his character. The final chapters draw two romances to a close in a strory, which though holding the interest of the reader, is not quite up to the standard of the "Wind of Heaven,” the best book Miss Scanlan has yet produced.