Our Fortnightly Book Review

Radio Record, Volume V, Issue 19, 20 November 1931, Unnumbered Page

Our Fortnightly Book Review

GREEN MEMORY —

By

M. Barnard

Eldershaw

BEARING in*’ mind the high attainment of that epical tale of our sister Dominion, "A House is Built," by two talented young collaborators who write under the embracing cognomen of M. Barnard Eldershaw, another novel by’ this clever combination was awaited with interest. "Green Memory" will not disappoint. In some respects it is an advance on its predecessor, which, in spite of emotional interest and panoramic portrayal of colonial, life, was somewhat over-meticulous in detail. Sar The new story chronicles the fortunes and misfortunes: of an Australian family ‘in the middle of last century. "Green Memory" conctrns the Havens, who at the beginning of the book are prosperous and infiuential, moving as they do in what in those departed days was considered highly desirabie society at Darling Point, which judged that money made from groceries was as bad, if not worse, than tainted. We become acquainted with each member of the family, from the pretty, somewhat foolish mother, entirely under the dominion of the debonair head of the house, dosyn to twelve-yeur-old dreamer, whose portrait is etched with subtlety and imaginative understanding of the heart of a child. ae Disaster and dishonour crash upon the family, and the father-hanid-some, delightful, beloved-drops from lordly pedestal, and, seeking the easiest way out, ends his life with a pistol-shot. The rest of the book is largely a study of the reactions of his children to the changed conditions of their lives. Shabby gentility, lack of social amenities, dull and dreary economies are forced upon them, after removal from the flower-embowered home, when "they faced half-packed cases in dismantled rooms, dignified articles of furniture found themselves abandoned in grotesque attitudes, and the accretions of a lifetime of cultured acquisitiveness stood ticketed on shelves." Charlotte, sweet and eighteen, marries "into trade" not entirely successfully, for the dead father’s snobbish standards are curiously persistent; and the eldest of the family, the lovely Lucy, in determined pride, takes up the reins of ‘management in the dingy home, refusing, in aloof defiance, to respoud to the devotion of gallant Richard Temple, to whom she had been on.the verge of betrothal when family ship of fortune foundered. FRventualiy the hard lesson is learned, and rather late in the day Lucy turns again to her persistent wooer, whom, one feels, she rather deserved to lose for saerificing him on altar of indomitable independence and Timitless. capacity for self-immolnation. Much ‘understanding is revealed of humanity’s rank and file, and flickering through the pages are refreshing touches of humour, a little reminiscent in quality of that of a great woman novelist who also hid identity under masculine masquerade. For example: "The Lord in His thoughtfulness has provided a special class of people to be first arrivals at parties, and of these Mrs, Maxfield and her daughter were shining examples. It. was said of them that they were born to be relations, and they arrived early at every function, from a deep-seated instinct to cement the family solidarity before the approach of visitors." Throughout we are conscious of conditions, social and physical, of a land where the sky was like clear water, gardens lay enchanted in aqueous light, and friezes of lemon gums, strong and delicate, moved their fine leaves in inaudible rhythm against a changing sky. ae Again: "Sydney, like Adam, had no childhood. Its beginnings were mean and sordid, and the continent offered no resistance to its invaders, who on the foreshores of the loveliest harbour in the world, scattered names giving the measure of their imagination. A rocky islet crowned with trees is Goat Island; a headland running out into still water is Long Nose Pots a group of rocks is the Bottle and Glass, another the Sow and gs. ‘ And who will fail to recognise the fidelity of description: of Paddy’s Market, which "came out in a strong breath of earthy and human smells, while thrifty housewives with lean purses and many babies, pinched dressed poultry and haggled for cheap vegetables; men heated saveloys and green peas in portable cans over a little furnace; bunches of zinnias and asters and little hard chrysanthemums waited in tins; trotters and sausages lay

grey and lifeless on boards; voices of showmen contended with roar of crowd, and a raucous voice near the entrance preached hell and repentance." Not altogether for the story, though that is a good one; but perhaps primarily for the descriptions of Australia, its history and its people in years long past, will the book be read and read again,,