PLEASANT FAMILY CHRONICLE
KIT CARMICHAEL, By Nelle M.. Scanlan, Robert Halé Ltd., London; Whitcombe and Tombs Lid., New Zealand. ISS SCANLAN should hold her cons siderable public with her new novel, and possibly enlarge it. When a charming and intelligent young woman (Elizabeth) takes the risk of mafrying an occupationless and self-centred man younger than herself (Kit) there ate obviously the makings of trouble, though she has known him well for a long while. This situation some novelists wotild certainly exploit in a fashion different from Miss Scanlan. For heré, no trouble comes. Kit makes an admirable husband plus man about the place, and Elizabeth an adoring wife. New baby and all, there is a happy ending in a syrup of sentimentbut on the éve of*the war, which may make the reader wonder if Miss Scanlan has a sequel in mind, Kit Carmichael, cursed with private meatis, yet frequently in debt and ready to cadge, blest with taste but not with application, selfish, irresponsible, and able to talk himself out of any situation, is a typé some men'may long to kick and some (continued on next page)
(continued from previous page) women to slap, and it is proof of Miss Scanlan’s skill that she succeeds in making us realise his attractiveness, The publishers’ jacket tells us that "Kit Carmichael and his odd philosophy triumph in the end," but to what extent? Elizabeth as well as Kit has private means, the testing time is short, and Kit is no nearer doing a real job at the end’ than. he was at the beginning, but perhaps this is just life. However, the war. ... These two move in a_ society of gousins, with a masterful and thoroughly objectionable aunt in the background, to whom they are accustomed to defer. Their passage is not so smooth as that of Elizabeth and Kit. This pleasant English circle talks a lot. Sometimes there * a surfeit of chatter about tfivialities,
but Miss Scanlan has a gift for making the things of daily life interesting to her readers. The best-drawn character in the book is Elizabeth’s middle-aged servant Lottie, the type of devoted family retainer whose ranks are being rapidly* thinned by social and economic changes, perhaps not altogether to the advantage of society."
A.
M.
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 430, 19 September 1947, Page 12
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378PLEASANT FAMILY CHRONICLE New Zealand Listener, Volume 17, Issue 430, 19 September 1947, Page 12
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