NEW AND VARIED FICTION
A Conqueror Passes, by Larry Barretto. An after the war story—perhaps the best of them all—showing the reactions in business and social life of the returned soldier, restless, discontented, missing the excitement and tension of war. Told without either hysterics or despairing cynicism. A noteworthy book and a first novel by a writer who deserves close attention.
The Book of Blanche, by Dorothy Richardson. The love story, half earthly, half spiritual, of a beautiful violinist and a hospital surgeon; unique for its word pictures of the psychic phenomena of anæsthesia, and introducing a new American novelist of brilliance.
Blue Blood, by Owen Johnson. The story of a reckless society girl who sold herself to save her father’s honor—then waited in suspense for the order to deliver herself.
Pandora Lifts the Lid, by Christopher Morley and Don Marquis. An extravagant, light romance which opens with the kidnapping of six daughters of the rich from a girl’s seminary on Long Island and continues with a dashing yacht.
Semi-Attached, by Anne Parrish. A more serious novel than A Pocketful of Poses, but told with the same lively sense of the humorous moments in life. The story of a delightful girl who had to be converted to the idea of marriage.
The Show-Off, by William Almon Wolff, from the play by George Kelly. Aubrey Piper, the show-off, with his wing collar and bow tie, flower in his button-hole and patent leather shoes, is a character who will appeal universally because we all know him and laugh at him in everyday life. A realistic American novel, a satire that is full of humor and pathos.
Rôles, by Elizabeth Alexander. What happened when a discontented wealthy young wife changed places with her double, a hard-working actress—the kind of story one reads at a sitting, anxious to find out “how it will all come out,” and very much surprised by the dénouement. Witty.
Deep in the Hearts of Men, by Mary E. Waller. A story of the deeper human interests, especially of a man’s coming into spiritual light out of darkness, its scenes laid chiefly in a New Hampshire manufacturing town and the coal fields of West Virginia.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow, by Stephen McKenna. A novel of English inner political circles after the war, in which some of the characters of the author’s famous novel, Sonia, make their final appearance.
Humdrum House? by Maximilian Foster. An exciting mystery story with both serious and farcical complications. You won’t, however, for a considerable time know which is which!
The Brute, by W. Douglas Newton. A mystery-adventure story of rapid movement with scenes in South America and a beautiful and wealthy English girl as the heroine. By a novelist who writes with more than ordinary skill in characterization.
The Thirteenth Letter, by Natalie Sumner Lincoln. Opens with a strange midnight marriage followed soon by a mysterious murder, and centers around the disappearance of a famous diamond worth $250,000. The author is an experienced hand in stories of this type, and the final solution depends upon a remarkable cipher.
The Laughing Rider, by Laurie Yorke Erskine. William O’Brien Argent, otherwise Smiling Billy Argent, is the central figure of this romantic adventure story which runs from the Texas plains to the Canadian Northwest.
A City Out of the Sea, by Alfred Stanford. The story of Michael Ballard, who is a lawyer for the people of New York’s waterfront, and who is attached to them because he finds them “hard and fair and wild.” His growth through certain violent episodes until the love of a beautiful woman matures his personality and power as an artist is the theme. The novel is the work of a young writer whose work is stamped with distinction. The story suggests Jack London, but is written with more finesse if with no less power.
Cuddy of the White Tops, by Earl Chapin May. An exhilarating tale of a college boy who discovers, on his father’s death, that the family fortune is all invested in a circus. He quits college and takes charge of the show—and finds he has a three-ring performance on his hands. Good love story.
After Harvest, by Charles Fielding Marsh. An English love story of the wind-swept Norfolk country, contrasting with, but of the same type as, Sheila Kaye-Smith’s Sussex stories. In Priscilla, John Thirtle of Brent Fen Farm, and the shepherd, Reuben Gladden, the author exhibits something common to all humanity and clearly expressed in the simple lives and deep passions of country folk.
Many Waters, by Elinor Chipp. A love story of present-day New England which begins when Marian Pritchard, Mark Wetherell, and Donald Callender are playmates. Marian, however, and Mark as well have a great ordeal to undergo before achieving mutual happiness.
The Quenchless Light, by Agnes C. Laut. A novel based on the lives of the Christian Apostles, vividly written, and of the general type of Sienkiewicz’s Quo Vadis and F. Marion Crawford’s Via Crucis.
Low Bridge and Punk Pungs, by Sam Hellman. Mirth-provoking stories for bridge fiends and mah-jongg fans by the newest popular American humorist. With pictures by Tony Sarg.