Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-10
SHEILA KAYE-SMITHS
TWO NEW NOVELS
Noted English Novelist Is Char
acteristic in '.Four Roads"
and "Tamarisk Town"

Sheila Kaye Smiths stories are so
much a part of the English countryside
that those who read them can almost
smell the fragrance Of the drowsy June
fields and the woody spice Of quiet,
winding lanes.
Such a story is "The Four Roads,
an admirable study Of rustic charac-
ter, in which the war plays a part that
is vague and remote. but no, less trag-
edy because Of its remotcness.
'"The Four Roads" is tale told of
crude folk and of these Mus Sumption,
a chapel preacher, is the homely fig-
ure who dominates the book. The war
shook Mus Sumption to the very soul,
and il struck at him through his cher,
ished and only possession--his son
whom the battlefield proved to be a
pitiable creature.
There is a thread Of loye--the love
of man for Notwithstanding through
the book. but it is largely subordi-
mated to the vast and passionate love
of Mus Sumption for his son., love
which wrecked pride and happiness and
yet, In the end, pointed out to the
father where best to find his true course
in life.
"Tamarisk Town. There is music
in the name and music in the tale. but
the music in the tale has the cadence
of sorrow, the sorrow Of a great love
unrealized and misspent and OF life's
early ambitions wrecked.
Sheila Kaye Smith wrote Ia
marisk Town." and she wrote it well.
1t is perhaps the best thing she has
hao IN rho n
sistent and lingering; 1t Is story
of shadows, shot here and there with
swift, brief moments of sunshine.
J, Edward Monypenny is.a genius in n
little English fishing village. Marlin
gate, or. II you please, '"Tamarisk
Town" Monypenny's love is the town.
He wills that it shall develop and ex-
pand into a city Of silver by the sea
a resort without comparison, and it
does. Monypenny's genius makes 1t
great.
Then enters the woman. Against his
will she wins part of Monypenny's love.
the. other part remaining in the town
Finally she claims all and Monypenny
refuses. Death, then, for the woman.
who, il she could not have all, would
have nothing.
The woman gone. Monypenny turns
the full force of his affection back to
the town. or tries to. But in death
the power of that woman. the wife OF
another, was stronger even than in
life. Monypenny's love for her memory
wrestled with his love for the town
and won. Little by little there de
veloped in his heart hate for "Tamarisb
Town" and Monypenny determined~tc e.
avenge on Marlingate the death of tht
woman he thought he had not loved
so well as he loved the town. And
finally the town fell back into dismal,
sordid mediocrity-the work of Mony
penny a sacrifice to love realized toe
late.
In the closing chapters of the book
appears shadow of Monypenny's great
passion for Morgan lie Fay. In the love
of Monypenny's son for Morgan lie
Fay's daughter. In tempest of jeal
ousy that these two should realize the
love that he had thrown away Edward
Monypenny essays to wreck their lives
with the life of Tamarisk Town, but
the spirit of Morgan lie Fay inter
venes and this shadow Of wasted love
is saved.
THE FOUR ROADS. by Sheiia Hayes
New York: George II. Doran Co.
TAMARISK TOWN. BY Sheila Kaye Smith
| New York: II. p. Dutton & Co.