Books

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 8, 7 September 1928, Page 14

Books

can ree eee The Poor Gentleman. (lan Hay.) ANOTHER of the se es of charming novels we owe ta Major Beith, which are like a fresh breeze of cheer blowing across the sometimes unhealthy garden f }: st-war fiction. A blinded officer of the Great War is the narrator of the story and its unconscious h:rvo. A type we all know and some of us love, immediately he is entered upon our list of fictiona) friends. Peacefully vevins the tale in a London Park, where the Poor Gentleman, as the playing children call him, makes the casual acquaintance of that genial Cockney, Alf Noseworthy A nice little chap is Alf, trying hard to improve his HKnglish accent by a course of How to Speak Correctly, having aspirations to shine on the stage, instead of sticking ‘o his legiti. mate job of wireless mechanic, and a clever one. His yearning for the higher life leads to strange association with a gang of American Communisti« scoundrels, posing as British film pro ducers, by whom battle, murder and sudden strikes are engineered with almost complete success. and they fina the unwilling, efficient Alf a valuable aid in fitting up a broadcasting station to assist their villainous schemes. Hin they imprison in a sinister moated grange. whither through their machit ations are held up the blind major. the girl of his heart. and Nigel. thi nmusing sprig of impertinent pos? war youth. Their incarceration ane eventnal emergence make intriguing reading, there are cap.tal thumb-nai: portraits of all sorts and conditions. Alf and his Hdna are mueh to om faste, and that fair and frank Fnglish family with their holiday resort near 1 easino. The broadcasting element is introduced skilfully. tending to make this good story still more up to the minute: the American girl is frank ynd kind. and almost good enough fo the blind soldier. who wins her heart ana ours, while through the story runs A gay, sweet quality of the unconscious courage oi the teller of the taleRULER.