THE WHITE HAND AND THE BLACK By Bertram Mitford
Mr. Bertram Mitford has done for South Africa what Mr. Rudyard Kipling has done for India. He has brought home to the English people the character of the work that Britons are doing in the outposts of Empire. Mr. Mitford's knowledge, like Mr. Kipling's, has been acquired at first hand, by living in the land and among the people he describes. In his new novel the author chooses as background a Rising of the Blacks against the Whites. The reader is brought into contact with various kinds of natives, good and bad, with the British official of the better class, and with the grit and solidity and daring of the ordinary Britisher who finds himself in a tight corner and fights with his back against the wall. Trickling through the stirring incidents of the story is a love romance. Mr. Mitford has intimate knowledge, insight, sympathy and imagination, and he has written a novel of virility and vigour whose superiority to most fiction may be observed on every page.
DELILAH OF THE SNOWS By Harold Bindloss
No living writer has a more intimate knowledge of colonial manners than Mr. Harold Bindloss. He describes for the stay-at-home Englishman not so much the well-ordered life in the great settlements as the virile, rugged, desperate, and often lawless struggles among the colonists in the undeveloped outposts of Empire. The earlier scenes in "Delilah of the Snows" take place in England. Later on the characters are transplanted bodily to Western Canada among the gold-seekers. In such surroundings Mr. Harold Bindloss, as may be conjectured, is in his element, and he develops a story of consummate artistry and strength. The spirit of adventure and tragedy and comedy is over it all, and an unconventional ending is in keeping with the rest of this brilliant book.
DR. MANTON By Morice Gerard
Mr. Morice Gerard has advanced with rapid strides to the position of one of the most popular writers of the day. "Dr. Manton" is a splendid instance of his power in weaving a dramatic story, made up of the great elements of love, mystery and conflict between opposing forces, with a wonderful dénouement, which no reader can read without being moved. Mr. Morice Gerard believes in a happy ending; hero and heroine find their happiness and peace achieved after stress and struggle. The story is up to date in every respect.
A WOMAN PERFECTED By Richard Marsh
A new story by Mr. Richard Marsh is an event which is eagerly anticipated; and "A Woman Perfected" will not disappoint the expectations, however high, of any of Mr. Marsh's innumerable admirers. The starting-point of the story is the sudden death of a man of mysterious habits and ostentatious wealth, whose only daughter, Nora, is apparently left unprovided for. The young girl has been led to believe that she would be a great heiress, but the secret of her father's past and the source of his income cannot be discovered. A series of events follow, which excite a curiosity that amounts to anxiety. The author marshals his plot and characters with conscious mastery; and he has written what may, with very truth, be described as a brilliant book.
CYNTHIA IN THE WILDERNESS By Hubert Wales. Author of "Mr. and Mrs. Villiers," "The Yoke"