BOOK NOTES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 206, 31 July 1937, Page 15

BOOK NOTES

“AVALANCHE.” It would seem that a novel dealing entirely with life in a Swiss consumptive sanatorium could not possibly contain much in the way of brightness and humour. Yet this is precisely what Mr Gordon Hayward’s “Avalanche” does contain, except towards the end, where death creeps' closer to the narrator of the story, gradually closing in until the last entry is made in the diary which this young English inmate of Tnnneck Sanatorium has been keeping. In writing his book, Mr Hayward has used a discursive pen to draw a complete picture of life among people who know they have but a slim hold on it, and yet refuse to abandon hope. His characters are varied and full of a brittle vitality all their own. He hag, too, a delicate sense of humour, an entertaining approach, which is doubly effective in a novel like this, since it makes the early chapters very entertaining, while at the same time giving the reader the feeling that although others may die, the central character who can write so amusingly of daily small occurrences must surely survive/ The final tragedy is thus all the more heightened. Great delicacy has been used in the treatment of the love affair between Craig (the diarist) and Countess Nadia Feodosievski. The htter is not a patient, and Craig’s agony comes when, knowing that she loves him, he eendg her away until his cure can be effected. It never is. “Avalanche” is a Book Society recommendation. That recommendation can bo endorsed with confidence.

“THE MAItCHING CLOUD.” The emancipation of women has been dealt with time- and again in fiction from every conceivable angle. In her new novel, “The Marching Cloud,” Miss Dorset has dealt with the problem from the intellectual standpoint. She has chosen the daughter of an English county family, Adela Mostyn, and led her through the significant years of 1866-1926. It was at this period that women began to assert their claim to equal suffrage. Prosperity and a sound Government allowed leisure for the bursting of a bubble of unrest which had risen to the surface of the continually seething cauldron of public affairs. Adela, member of a family of five, felt the stirrings of ambition at an early age, and, with the help of a sympathetic butler, she procured a selection of books which would never, by legitimate means, have found a place on her bookshelves. She was an intelligent young woman, and very determined. Many of the books were scientific and far beyond her technical understanding. In order to grasp their contents she learned long passeges by heart and repeated them until, by sheer force of repetition, the meaning dawned upon her.

Partly to escape from the confining atmosphere of her home, and partly owing to the ardent pressure’ of her suitor, Adela ran away and married an advanced scientist. He had bribed her by drawing glowing pictures of the opportunities for research and further learning that such a marriage would offer. She was not deeply in love, but succumbed to the intellectual temptation, only to meet with subsequent disappointment and considerable frustration. The story of her real love remains in the background until the end of the book, when, in spite of misgivingc regarding her grown-up family, Adela decides that she must have at least a short period of personal fulfilment. That she is doomed once again to disappointment is inevitable. Miss Dorset has written an interesting novel with fluency and insight. Her subsidiary characters are well drawn, and throw illuminating sidelights on the main theme.

CRIME IN A THEATRE. “Vintage Murder,” the story of the peculiar death of Alfred Meyer on the stage under the eyes of his entire company, is excellent entertainment. Ngaio Marsh already has several crime stories to her credit; her latest, set in New Zealand, her native land, will not disappoint her admirers. A theatrical company is good material for this type of book. It takes all sorts to make a cast, and in a company which must tour the Dominions even more variety than usual is necessary. ( Alfred Meyer and George Mason arc partners in Incorporated Playhouses, Ltd. Meyer is husband to Carolyn Dacres, the beautiful lending lady. She is in love with Hailey Hambledon, the leading man, but extremely fond of her husband, and unswervingly loyal to him. There are ia number of young people included in the company; a particularly objectionable young woman, Valerie Gaynes, whose wealthy father has allowed her to indulge a penchant for the footlights; three young men ‘of divergent temperaments and uncertain incomes, and the usual collection of odds and ends such as mechanists, dressers, etc. The story centres mainly around Carolyn Dacres, her leading man, and Roderick Alieyn, of the Criminal Investigation Department, Scotland Yard. Allevn, on holiday in New Zealand, finds himself on the same train with the company and plays the leading part in the investigation's of the murder of Alfred Meyer, which took place on the opening night of their season at Middleton. Miss Marsh has a good sense of humour.

“MR AND MRS NORTH.” “Mr and Mrs North” (by Richard Lockbridge).—Mr and Mrs North are an amusing couple. Like any other moderately well-to-do young married couple living in a Manhattan apartment, spending occasional week-ends and holidays in their own or someone else's country cabin, they look at life from a cheerful angle, but each of them has occasional doubts about his or her absolute authenticity in the role in which they have 6et out to fulfil. Mr North is the more selfconscious of the two. His moments of sClf-doubt provide a number of amusing sketches. His bewilderment over some of his lively young wife’s actions and reactions will make every married man grunt sympathetically. For the latter purpose “Mrs North’s Miracle,” “Mr "North Helps Shop,” and “Mr North’s Ordeal” - might be specially recommended. Other sketches depict the dazed wonder with which the average domestic male regards the activities of those who perform those feats of legerdemain in the home such as papering a room, making a “loosecover,” dressing a doll, etc., which a woman simply takes in her stride. Mr North is, moreover, an observant and rather sensitive man. One of the funniest sketches concerns his efforts to emulate the ear-wiggling feats of an earnest listener who occupies a seat directly in front of him at a high-brow concert. This, his lapse into sentimental moon-gazing at a country cabin, and his acute suffering over the terrible quietness of Mrs North’s sister are perhaps the most amusing fragments. Every woman with a sense | of humour will appreciate the author’s' shrewd digs at her sex, and decide to accept the con- graciously, if. per-| chance, her husband should follow

Miss E. M. Delafield’s advice: “Many a husband will be well advised to give a copy to his wife.” It’s that sort of book I