Show t seal ‘ SUNDAY MORNING THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE NOVEMBER b t 1936 29 13 - nfand Ne liscussi gook 44 Novel of Many Facets 1tit i i 4 Hugh Walpole of Characters Uniqueness Introduci4 Variety of t -B- y E - A PRAYER ' ' '' "'" ' 1 ' ' I - A )44 - 4 -- 4dipsk 4 ''''' N ' ' ' ' t' I- tlatst ' 'It'' t g f st her-son—- a ‘'—)04 zsrt'lIV ' - ' Fiction Titles Current of By Algernon Blackwood Publishers E P Dutton & Co Inc New York City If you are of that group which has a scientific interest in psychical matters if you delight in explorations into the realm of the supernatural and occult you will per baps be able to take Algernon Blackwood'a collection of "Shocks" without quivering of the nerves and horripilations of the scalp Ten to one however even you will choose the bright hours of the day for reading the book rather than the gloom of night For in them stories Mr Black- leads us into the shadowy beyond the border of the filSerial relates events that seem in kiirect opposition to the natural Jaws that govern our world presents us with problems that nothing in the common experience can explain —and generally leaves us with our hair rising Mr Blackwood is adept in the handling of the uncanny and the mystical of 'manifestations of the supernatural possessing the mastery of style and narrative skill to make these happenings seem SHOCKS ical yl 1 vtv aii )it 141 at the 4 a ette on A A' 'world i I a tta on in of !cts 11 T11 ker a ide i of 410 ets art irk tnd credible 'There is the story of Mantravers who had succeeded in arresting age for a quarter century and his disappearance—an escape for four years into a different consciousness and his return to pay back the stolen years and his debt to anotler There is the story of "The Stranger" calling at a house where a woman lay ill to death whispering he would "come back" and vanishing—was it Death who held his - idy "PM k - the ent r e rp ' I on in J list below some of the books Oert mpo that are leading sales throughout ttift the nation Gone With The Wind $3 Margaret Mitchell Drums Along The Mohawk 4 Waiter at Edmonds iv' led vs lye IV! the eh i D 2 NONACTION Man The unknown Alexis Carrel Inside Europe John Gunther listell for a Lonesome Drum—Carl Carmer 4 - ac 00 250 ' Anthony Adverse' Hervey Allen so- 00 - 350 350 3 00 Give On of These Fine looks for A Chrlstrnr4 Presents ra hi- - DSERET BOOK he Lnd Lies inm in FICTION 17ts 11- ALL BEST SELLERS we lph ing 44 East on South - hand that she might have some years of happiness with the lover from whom she had been separated? A young novelist's experience during that night spent in a house said to be haunted the meeting of "The Survivors" victims of an airplane crash strange excursions of human minds and the mingling of the livAnd what of ing and the dead simple Mike Kelly bridge-gan- g foreman in the tropics and his native bride of the beautiful hands or of the strange Chinese mirror from "The Land of Green Ginger"? Fifteen stories make up the collection each with the fascination of the weird and unfathomable mysteries of other worlds beyond this we know FAIR tiADY By Peggy O'More Publisher Phoenix Press New York City Given an unscrupulous rival determined by fair means or foul to wrest away her social position and win the marrshe loves and a grandfather whose firm sense of honor will not let his friends know of his financial ruin lest they offer aid— and Joan Langford's course in life Is bound to test her sorely Ah but Fate will watch over the charming Joan and when she and Daddy-gran- d steal away from the old family mansion to the shabby Louisiana farm which is all they have left will have a handsome heroic young forester right at hand to shield her from drunken vagabonds rebuild her wrecked home and show her how to circumvent the vicious Letitia's plans for her humiliation Joan has to be sure all the virtues and can laugh whatever comes but certainly is extraordinarily crudulous and moreover doesn't seem to know her own mind whether to prefer the hesitating Milton or her helpful friend Carlton With all her devilishness Letitia at least knows what she wants and sets about getting it ' - ' - - -- ' November Another Octave "Saint Helena" Is among Lippincott's November books where also the Arthur Rackham illustrated edition of Henrik Ibsen's "Peer Gynt" is found also another Blackshirt tale by David Graeme "The Sword of Monsieur Blackshirt" and Hector Bo litho's "Marie Tempest" and the "Selected Essays by Hilaire Ballot" compiled by John E Dineen - "Half the World Is Isfahan" a title taken from an Iranian proverb an Oxford University publication by Caroline Singer is illustrated n by Cyrus LeRoy Baldridge well-know- Imola - - - ' ' - —A -- I : ' ' 4 ' ' ' - ' 4 v: - V HUGH WALPOLE ' Iowa l l :Anthology of Wómen With ' Other Writeis' — ON THE Hmts Edited by Mrs: L Worthington Smith Publisher Henry Harrison New York City An anthology which the Iowa Federation of Women's Clubs can point to with considerable pride "Flame on the Hills" represents a group of some 180 writers of the state singers from Iowa's hills and exeception3 memprairies with-fe- w bers of the federation of club vo- men 'The four exceptions are foundl among the writers of the Memorial section which includes the winning FLAME the national poetry contest for poems In memory of several famous writers who have died withing the past few years Many of the verses appearing in the collection have first been published in poetry magazines and leadand others have ing periodicals been carefully selected If not all the verses seem worthy of this permanence there is much that has value that is spoken with authentic poems in The book voice is ' KITCHEN WINDOW By Edna Jaques Publishers John H Hopkins & Son Inc New York City Siinple poems of homely things of remembered things with much of the charm such small things—as the scent of rosemary growing by an gate ot the pressed wild flowers come upon irminrhid book—ever hold these are the content of Edna Jaques' book Miss Jaqiies is a writer of Canada who has traveled up sind down the land and has found everywhere beauty and graciousness being one who looks upon life as good and finds common things the sweetest There is nothing of modern pessimism here' she writes—and with no little facility—as one whose soul like her to dream house is the sun" MY RANGER'S DIARY AND SCRAPBOOK Edited by Ann Jensen Publishers The Ka leido graph Press Dallas Texas Quite 'unique in type is this small TEXAS volume interesting in its revelation's of thediversity of matters occupying the mind of a Texas ranger in intervals of his activities' in the maintenance of law and order in the Lone Star state The material both prose and poetry gathered by his daughter from the journal and scrapbook of Alonzo Van Oden who became a ranger in 1891 when he was 29 is often original matter expressive of his philosophy of life his thoughts on religion morality love as well as comment on his work as a peace officer and stories criminals of met with ice and in the odd characters his serv- - t ' — OF REAL-'-- ' i Dorrance Co 4' And despite all its grueling hardships its exactions of patience of fortitude and physical strength "We enjoyed it very much indeed" he says "We" included Kinl Mlle Ella Maillart young Swiss journalist who has already made a name for herself as traveler-autho- r who was his companion on this Tartary penetration—not through the desire of either but while with the same objective each had planned a different route circumstances had left but one route possible—if it "were" possible—through this mysterious region Of necessity the two joined forces and "got on well together" having the one thing in common "an abhorrence of the false values on what can most conplaced veniently be referred to by its trade-nam- e of Adventure"' If one recognizes the hardihood and determination displayed by Mr Fleming in undertaking this incredible expedition—or perhaps Mr Fleming's "escapade" is a better term—what can one say of this young woman's enterprise and heroic endurance? Mr Fleming who promptly discovered Kini's distinctive qualities pays high compliment to her intrepid spirit and resourcefulness as a traveler greater enjoy it '4''74 I - I et: ' k -- 0: '4- - - -- ‘ r: !" z phia - - p rowing i :::Ztraammanx::-Wa- t ita !:r i ''- - ' - PA"' 9114 41 Lt - mt 6onal"atj part the a author touches on realities at times a 1:":" 7 li ICIt j 1 ) but 'very largely she rides her Pe- k le' 4 ga sus in the realm of th e mystic : :4 ‘ ' and the visionary seeming unaware k ' '' of the world about her A section nokma of her book is devoted to songs to ‘ ifi ' the fairies and the concluding and " "''1r most realistic portion is given to "Plantation Memories" in the i Pe ter Flemng shown waiting with Oriental American negro phraseology which somewhere in 'Asia's forbidden region often appears exaggerated - ayr— t 10 -- ' ' ' l'e'' : — ii i r tr 1 4 e : ' ' - t 4 a' : 4 f - - ' Itw ' ' ' ' i --- -- N ' ' idedly " Ak t - - William Faulkner whose ' - - complex ' ' siyle J point - own with a talent for dealthe natives Hint proved a good cook also and the of the expedition and must than his ing with herself doctor be granted a large share in making the fantastic trip successful Peking promised little encouragement to this project for au overland journey to India through a'region where civil war had raged and now where foreigners had been mistreated and none were Soviet-dominat- ed welcomed The "news" from Tar- tary was far from reassuring even Dr Sven Hedin's prestige had not prevented his rougn treatment on a mission Yet the undaunted expedition started off their actual destination to the unknown authorities When they were placed under ':open arLanchow rest" at and their Russian companions the Smigunovs man and wife were turned back it seemed an omen of failure for their plans but the two pressed on Not even that last incident as they passed the gates outward—meeting an armed guard conducting "a prisoner a burly European with a fair beard" who grimaced and called them "Caput!"—swerved from their purpose One can give no more than a suggestion of the events the trials the road-surveyi- ng monotony of that journey By camel shaggy Chinese horses on foot over barren desert tamarisk dunes mountain passes assaulted relentless winds by dust-storm- s snow and bitter cold—all vividly described by Mr Fleming—they traveled Asia at Asia's pace following roads that Marco Polo might have traveled Mr Fleming makes light of difficulties that seemed Insurmountable passing over grave predicaments with that gay humor which is inseparable part Of his writing And when after entering Sinkiang they had reached the point of exhaustion "when you cannot see beyond the urgent business of endurance" the expected arrest came Dealing with the intricacies of international politics in Central Asia where four Powers are vitally interested Mr Fleming not unnaturally sees the situation from the British viewpoint and points to Moscow's "clandestine" activities in Sinkiang as directed toward ousting Great Britain but very largely guided by "opportunism" as Japan in North China is guided As matters stood in 1935 Russia did almost as she liked in Sinkiang—a tq - situation definitely not endure Mr Fleming knew and her discusses ultimate aims whether "mischief-makinor George E Sokolsky himself of a student Asian questions declares Mr Fleming's work to be honest and ihIpressive reporting that could patience in- g Whether 6"" - ! this complex situation his "News From Tartary" is a record both absorbing and entertaining and superbly illustrated with the author's own photography supplementing his brilliant pictures of the country and native characters one understands odorous laid situation is bare The author's chief indictment Is n directed at unions such as the Brooklyn Painters' Union which through the constant and bold use of cbercion violence and threat of costly strikes dominates both labor and the capital for which it works Even through protests to the parent organization the Amer-- can Federation of Labor the workers are powerless to effect any cure for the ills that are capping the vitality from the labor movement Incompetent leadership is as responsible as the gang power for the constant and costly warring within the union organizations Citing as examples of open-shprinciples the Kohler company of Whiconsin and the Nash Clothing company Cincinnati where company unions are under successful operation Mr Sullivan shows the effects of attentted industrial unionization from outside unions upon the apparently harmonious relations between labor and employer pointing out that this ' gang-ridde- op employe-r- epresentation 1 Maryland Colony at Aaron Jackson who croissed the plains with the handcart companies in the '50s tells of the long trek Mrs Amanda Taylor Chase recalls experiences of the little settlement of Alder Gulch Utah and says: "I think we had more good times years ago than the young people do in these times" Anecdotes of Butch Cassidy a notorious outlaw and of the Vigilantes are told by George C Streeter Ogden resident who once was a bunkmate of Cassidy in the days before a price wads set on the outlaw's head Among the short story contributors to the number is Edwin Herron a Utah baccalaureate now doing newspaper work on the coast and Franklin Walker student of western Americana examines in "Saint Abe and His Seven Wives" a poem of Salt Lake City by one Robert Buchanan who at the time of its writing bad never set foot in America al:tough he did arrive at a later date Buchanan had prior to the appearance of this work made himself obnoxious in England by publishing charge against Rossetti 1 f "11 011: CLEVER BOOKS FOR LITTLE FOLKS "MAKING YOUR OWN ANIMAL BOOK" 5100 by Helen Friend "CAPTAIN SALT IN OZ end ALL THE OZ BOOKS" by Ruth Plum ly Thompson-41- 50 "BOOKS OF TRAINS" linen (with "WILD ANIMALS AS I KNOW THEM" $100 by Kier E Knecht "A CHRISTMAS CAROL" (Gift Edition) 3175 by Charles Diciens finish)S0c BOOK SHOP—STREET FLOOR lo N New Inc rl tion from six or 600 sources each driblet colored by the prejudices and emotions of the observer That is how we know Demon Thomas' Sutpen how we arrive at i a conception of Miss Rosa- and her thwarted emotional life how we know what' little we do of the motives of Henry Sutpen and of Charles Bon who was to marry Judith's sister and whom Henry killed We know as much as Quentin does as much as Faulkner does and at the end of the book Quentin and form of bar his roommate are frankly guessing gaining may become the most amicout to trying piece extemporizing able method of dealing with the labor question dark creating plausible but whollyi As an example of the resistance the in to fill characters imaginary of satisfied company unions toward them with motive gaps endowing Joining with industrial unions In and action to fit the few surviving which workers have little to say f ao fa as to the disposition of funds or the Perhaps that Is what the critics calling of strikes Mr Sullivan gives are howling about that they don't a lengthy account of the Chicago know any more about these "psy- Motor Coach strike of 1934 in which chopathic ghosts" than they do about acts of unprecedented violence were the people they associate with every committed by "mobs" hired by union day Accustomed to havint our fic- officials in a strike not sanctioned tional characters complete fully by the company's employes rounded we feel cheated if an auUnder the discussion of craft vs thor rejects the omniscient lie at the Industrial unionism the author deals too basis of most fiction' Perhaps with the rise of John L Lewis from Faulkner hoesn' entirely succeed the ranks to his present importances bee is tort ured certainly in the labor picture With Lewis yond what most readers will stand is the powerful United Mine WorkBut I suspect and strongly that the ers' Union as well as several other mere technique of this novel may important industrial unions which prove to be a significant contribu- are trying to separate from the tion to the theory and art of fiction A F of L The outcome of that "Absalom Absalom!" will not rift may mean the life or deaththis of be the last or the best to approach the craft unions as led by William its materials in this way Green at the head of the federation As a means of promoting greater harmony between labor and capital Mr Sullivan suggests that unions CHIEF MITIGOMISH By Rev should become incorporated therePublisher The by giving labor greattr protection A M Grussi misappropriation of huge Christopher Publishing House against funds created by members' dues sus Boston well as making labor legally responWriting of seventeenth century sible for any overt acts it might Marycolonization of Virginia and commit against society as a whole land the author adds little to that Undoubtedly there is a great about the hardship amount of Mr Sullivan's material already written and privations endured by the Eng- that is authentic but it Is to be lish colonists The historical events hoped that the entire labor movedescribed are written front a re- ment representing the greater bulk ligious viewpoint While the chroni- of our population is not as wiak cle introduces several English and as it is here indicated For all Mr Indian characters of history they Sullivan's testimony seems to bear are portrayed with scarcely any out the idea that if labor so desired imagination or feeling It could have a thorough houseThg part of' the book concerned cleaning and again raise its honor with the settlement of Virginia to the level of 15 years back—C treats chiefly of events leading to the massacre of the Jamestown set- tlement at St Mary's was demol tlers in 1622 and the work of the ished Catholic priests among the Coree Throughout the narrative Indians who became friendly with woven the story of the work of the the settlement the colUnder Lord Baltimore a group of Catholic priests among with many Catholics fleeing religious intoler- onists and the Indians While ance in England settled Maryland tribes being converted an time iinporreligion played there to encounter an equally in- that tense opposition from Puritans of tent part in the lives of these colauthor the onists emphasizes its Virginia led by William Clayborne until one might assume At Clayborne's instigation came importance between ills whether all that the successively the skirmish at Kent colonies or the colonies and the Indisland a tract of land chartered to were caused by religious in- Maryland and seized by his men for ians which could hardly have -- 11 a trading post and the Ingle inva- tolerance nation was born sion in 1644 during which the set been the case A settlements out of these early That required a unity beyond petty fa43- tional bickering—and its story has been told in greater voice than Maurice Howe of Ogden regional this—C M director of writers' project in the various western states contributes several articles of pioneer reminiscences the results of interviews with these old settlers themselves to the winter number of the FronI tier and Midland Magazine These I 111111 and in historical section the appear 11 11 will furnish much of interest to Utah readers pplli ' '''''1:'' 1 Pub- Philadel- - t k ' ''''''t' ie s '' t but charac- - - I A Rash but Successful Expedition" ' 4"411k 4 Hillman-Cu- York City r Despite several lapses into the familiar type of Jour nalism Edward Dean Sullivan here presents facts calculated to shake the American public into consciousness of the deplorable conditions existing in and eating at the heart of organized labor Although much of this material has been aired by the press he has collected a mass of pertinent facts placed them in their natural relation to one another until the conspicuous and dec"Red-baitin- ' - ruptions" !tts'''' DREAM AND c"- -- "suspects4 Sketches and in the serv- rry By Mary Ellis Robins & Ushers : i I I alf downright bad syntax The The whole book therefore gives ters are ghostly and er the Impression of wavering unceits "cocks fleshless technique as Quentin Compson Harafoot" at chronology and logic rtaintyfreshman tries to unravel the Granted one reviewer's charge that vard threads of a tale which has tangled s i out t his Faulkner writes trying gu to tell a simple story in the most reached him from a dozen incomsources mutually contradiccomplex way possible there is still plete reason to believe that he probably tory in spots filled with dark gaps gave knew what he was doing and why where informants' knowledge — out-he was doing it If Faulkner had wanted to tell In other words this novel desimply the simple story of demonic spite its shadowy nightmarish qualThomas Sutpen's rise from poor ity is in one respect the most realiswhite to opulent planter his matri- tic thing Faulkner has done It monial expiriments with whites and reconstructs historical materials as Negroes his desire for a son and any individual in reality has to re- a dissolution of that dream in a flam- with surmise and guess the charing house haunted by the whimper- acters ghostly shades except in brief As in life we mulatto who is isolated passages ings of a half-w- it the only survival of the Sutpen are confronted by a story whose blood he could have told it as sim- answers even the narrator does not ply as that The very fact that he know whose characters he (and didn't is proof enough that he didn't we with him) guesses at and specu' want to that the manner is more lates upon but does not ' attempt to 'L or d Peter Play imporant to him than the matter explain fully Instead of assuming the omnis- - What Faulkner is actually sayDorothy Sayers has been work- l in g On a play that will put her f a- - c ence of motive and impulse and ing as explicitly' if not as simply mous Lord peter Wimsey before reaction that even the most realls- as it has ever been said is that i l or otherwise can the footlights The play may' have tic novelists in the past have felt no man novelist London production before the end obliged to assume Faulkner pre- - know anoth e r except in the of the year "Busman's Honey- sefnts his story through the mouths trivial superficies of his life that different people in what the mind and emotions of another moon" her new novel featuring the noble sleuth and Harriet Vane is De Voto calls a "series of approx- are mysteries as deep as the herescheduled for January publication imations" While there is plenty of after that we arrive at our knowlby Harcourt Brace She terms it character analysis here it is frank- edge—or rather our surmises—of "a love story with detective inter- ly tentative frankly the attempt of other people through these approxone character to understand anoth- - imations these driblets of informa- - age of his home is involved in a tragedy of the spirit Miss Lindoey's poem was accorded first prize in its class in a contest sponsored by the Poetry Society 1 of Texas POEMS ' ishers I has a whose product if colorful A TALE STORM t THIS LABOR UNION RACKET By Edward Dean Sullivan Publ- reviewer Clippings preserved in the scraprange widely front excerpts from Scott's “Marmion" to Ingersoll's apostrophe to whisky to Ella Wheeler Wilcox and much lesser poets Cr"' i ' 1— - course of verged on the bawdy prints of his comrades ice are included 1 r 1 i r 4 ':- ' for the ' '''4 4 ' frequently not only invertebrate le - ' - I suspect further that one cannot dismiss "Absalom Absalom!" as 400 pages of turgid and invertebrate sentences about psychopathic ghosts It is true that with isolated lyrical exceptions the experimental sentences do not 'come off they are NEWS FROM TARTARY By Peter Charles Fleming Publishers Scribner' s Sons New York Say "Brazilian Since Adventure" broke on the public as a delightful new type of travel book other work by Peter Fleming has been awaited by readers who enjoy accounts of journeys in the less traveled spots written in breezy and vivid style and from a very personal viewpoint Mr Fleming has given them "One's Company" a record of journeyings in China and now offers "News From 'Tartary"—which is just that news from a region of- - China seldom penetrated by "foreigners" It is the story of an almost impossible from journey Peking through Chinese Turkestan—as inaccessible In 1935 due to political differences as Mt Everest through physical problems—Into India Mr Fleming's interest in making this spectacular trip dismaying even to the accustomed traveler— s 3500-mitrip consuming seven months—was neither the explorer's nor the scientist's - As lb special correspondent for a London paper It was a part of his job to bring news of what was ' happening in Sinkiang But in the last analysis Mr Fleming went because he wanted to having the idea that he would '' - book ' 4 ' view Bares Odious Facts As To Union Evils ' - critic would upon it So ' after reading half a dozens reviews of Absalom Absalom!" one Li led to preface alk his utterances with "I suspect" I suspect for example that Clifton Fadlizian's' review in The New Yorker is not only impercipient and lazy ' but silly as well I suspect that three other reviews in reputable papers are at least impercipiant and probably I suspect that the only relazy view that does Faulkner's last book anything like justice is that by Ber- nar d De Voto in the Saturday Re- 1 definite indicaImpulse Is it sets thdo s'ttandardts Introduced - Iimpose 1 tion that the creative alive in Iowa An element of mysticism In this book for the most Modern Iran The book is an ac7 count of contemporary life in Iran (the country once called Persia) as noted during a leisurely motor tour of a year I A OF THE GALVESTON By Theresa Lindsey k The Publisher Kaleidograph Press Dallas Texis ' This interesting narrative poem relates dramatically an incident which grew out of Galveston's terrible disaster of 1900—the enstorm and tidal wave whichgat t It is the strange gulfed the city Titles tale told to a stranger by an old I Aubry work man who in surviving the wreck- artist CbMPANY A 44 ' 7tsbeoltokinori 1 1 the e - 1' - t - ft- ' ' J oief ": - :' expedition Crile'S "Skyways to a Jungle Laboratory" la taken as a criterion Mrs Crile I the wife of Dr George Criile : famous American surgeon accompanied nher husband's expedition to Africa-ithe capacity of profesiliOn&I observer and the day to day account of her' experiences has resulted in one of the most exciting and informative a d venture stories to appear in many seasons Written in &de lightfull y easy and informal style lier narrative holds one's interest from the moment Dr Crile's party leaves Croydon and enters completely into the adventures of the little group of With- - the "Chief" one scientists stalks lions hunts elephants' is charged by rhino attends native dances and experiences the many small but amusing incidents attendant upon life in the Mail Moto camp for the hot springs some few miles away—in the Tanganyika territory And amusing many of them must have been—Mrs Crile's troubles with native servant (who persisted in washing everything in camp including Dr Crile's khaki work trousers which shrank completely out of sight) are good for several chuckles Mrs Crile was observant als3 of the scientific experiments which were the purpose of the expedition to learn how the human machine differs from that of wild animals to discover if "there is a natural cause for these energy diseases that affect only civilized man" Profusely illustrated with more than 150 exquisite camera studies "Skyways to a Jun g le Laboratory" Is truly educational as well as en- tertainin g and for the reader with some im a gination it should prove to be just what the subtitle implies—"An African Adventure" reader ' ent - a 1 1 ell : ks ! '''''' astoned '' t Noel jut N ' rary New Technique in By W E STEGNER ABSALOM ABSALOM! By William Publishers Random Faulkner House Inc New York City i s occasionally salutary for a i reviewer to read other reviews of book before he writes his own if for the caution it will give him only By G VAN DERCK about SKYWAYS TO A JUNGLE LAB- ments mistaking& subjective Where the ORATORY By Grace erne Pub- ID or involved lishers W W Norton and corn- - or question is difficult he in its revolutionary approach panv Inc New York City ' also to find how will be The thrills of a big game hunt critics are willing to let a writer ars 'wilscientifi comparison with those few do as he wishes how few will judge c of a if Grace ' t4' pt Z' i1 ''' 'sAl-- reae-ea- Pt 4 ' 4:1's--4r- r1 - 4‘t 41:- E HOLLIS FOR MY SON By Hugh Walpole I"ublishers ' Doubleday Doran and Co Inc New York Cita? I THIS newest of his novels fashioned with all his wonted ease INand skill and charm of style Hugh Walpole has dealt with a ' 0 ' I Situation ' in many respects unusual in its development employing ielements that have given some of his previous books their fasci- and moving appeal Readers acquainted with "Jeremy" will know the deeNunderstanding he brings to problems of the 1younger John generation fie relation to its Aden The who is focal point of this story has teen treated with insight espe) ' cially in his attitude toward the mother who is a stranger to him Rose Clennell had not been married to John's father though i Itheir love had been devoted When her lover had died shortly after Iher son's birth the desperate Rose had given up the baby to its paternal grandfather Who could give it advantages beyond her power and had surrendered all claims Now the boy is twelve and old Colonel Fawcus—Rose cannot understand why—has invitedI her to Smile Hall to see visit which is abhorrent to Janet the -' colonel's spinster daughter as is plain to Rose from the first moment Wordsworth's Scarfe own Cumberland Hall—in Walpole's ' 1 District a romantic background that is often emphasized—is an old Ihouse "so old you feel the past in it more than the present" and its chilliness seems to have something personal about it Almost at once Rose sensitive to something sinister in the atmosphere! of this well house yet finding it unexplainable feel it inimical to John's welfare )een Realizing now seeing her Son again what has been missing from the east 1life she had tried to believe purposeful and useful Rose's maternal for spirit is alive again She must rescue John from whatever menaces men must get him away from this house But first she has to win him role 1back ' gain the love and confidence she had forfeited )ty's Here-- she must walk warily For John is unready to accept this 7 be mother absent so long A serious sensitive lad and needful of love em- be had wanted a mother like other boys had—not a mother who ' ther stayed in Switzerland and hadn't even written to him Aunt Janet Ihadn't helped any saying at first his mother was dead then when Inc- op- Roger Parkin who knew everything told him differently saying for she "hadn't wanted to be bothered with him" The While this struggle of the mother for the winning of her 'son 4 and to save him from a domination that will ruin his character is pera ' Par- the heart of the story it is probable that with many readers it is luc- (Colonel Fawcus rosy and hearty at 70 still able to touch his toes Tew Ihe boasts whose figure will remain longest in the mind So genial way and kindly he appears Rose finds herself liking him can scarcely and si b Ibring herself to believe that from him emanates the evil pervading lane the house and threatening John—and escape from which becomes He i for John for herself and Janet too imperative t its over the world there But Colonel Fawcus is not unique---a- ll with desire for personal power "Had obsessed are likehim people rthA he been a great financier or a successful Cabinet Minister or Archd to A bishop of Canterbury" says one of the characters wise enough to ! As it read him "he would have been'a good man As it is was the Colonel lusted for power That Keswick no Idler bows hed to his influence irritates—during his walk to the Post Office he was 3 on the children of Israel Everything exasperated "like God ung l''''' him" Whichvisiting reacted on his household where he must rule prac- ssel rot1r tieing small cruelties sadistic discipline his will an hypnotic influence on John on Rose on Michael John's young tutor He saw teal in John material for molding he would discipline and shape the the like himself and through him rule again "I am a very unusual the boy ' man" this egomaniac says "I might had things been a little difang he ferent have changed the world's whole history" And again "I ugh might be where Goering is today had I been born a German" art "A Prayer for My Son" is not a presentation of social history as were the Herries chronicles yet the Colonel might be perhaps Mr a symbol of contemporary dictators since Mr Walpole toward the end has this comment: "You can't stop freedom by shouting about ' btle it imprisoning people making laws You can have your prison Lion camps your armies your tortures for a time but it never lasts and ross soon swept away" you're cts ' ' Jungle Notes By Observer ' Good Rea d ng It ' I ' eheaa ''' ' Latest Book Chooses Situation '''1 L W ins Again 11 ' |