New-York tribune., 1920-10-17
ngland of T0-day-Novelists of the Countryside
A Visit to I FIaunts That Have Been
Made Famous by the Pens
of Fiction Writers

Eloucester, ana, at lenGlh, the crest
of the wave of the incoming tide
swelling in from the sea, with "the
bells of Gloucester family Ginning out
the half-hour." An echo in that Of
Tennysons "Lin-lan-lone of evening
bells far, far away"
CUTLER Couch, in his From a Corn
ish Window, tells of the little har-
Dor visible from one of the windows
of his library and of many books to
be read and reviewed. In the paper
on "October," in the same book, he
says, in concluding sentence, II
throw it open (the library door,, and
10, q bright fire burning, and, smiling
over against the blaze of it, cheerful,
companionable, my books have been
awaiting me- Quiller- Couch is not
represented in the English fiction of
1920 but he is so essentially British
in fiber, so fine q man for keynote
at the opening of this sketch, that
we set him up, in the atmosphere Of
his little library, with the CLEAN of
the sea in the otfing, a sort Of human
signpost.
New Walpole Book
A few years ago Hugh Walpole, in
one of his early novels, spoke of the
thrill of pride and love that runs
through true Englishman when he
sets foot on his old heath after an
absence of many years. The book
was The Wooden Horse, and the
man who felt the glow Of old DAYS
alive again within him was standing,
fictional figure, gazing down on the
roll and tumble of the Cornish sea.
Waipole is Of Cornwall and London
The Doran people tell us that his next
novel, The Captivcs, to be published
this fall, is pretty nearly the best
book he has written; and that is an
omen of something good to come.
We have given Walpole & foothold
in Cornwall because Of his love for
this rugged county AMI the fact that
1t was the land of his first novels, His
later books, excepting The Dark Forest
and Jeremy, have been products Of the
inspiration of big cities, London and
Petrograd. And now we are TO note 81
curious combination of mental forces
at work on novel upon Cornish soil.
Mrs. Alfred Sidgwick, we'll known
through her Salt of the Earth, hit at
Prusslan bombast and cruelty. while
at her home in Cornwall a few months
ago met one Crosbie Garstin, globe
trotter and writer of stories that con-
tanned men and no women. Garstin
had a plot, or half one, and Mrs.
Sidgwick furnished the feminine rest.
And so that exciting and land and sea
covering yarn, The Black knight
(Henry Holt & Coz, came into being.
1t carries in its swing a young and
financially ruined Englishman to the
heart of Western Canada, then to Paris
and finally to Cornwall and happiness
There is a kaleidoscope glitter of
swiftly shifting scenes n this story
and it gets into our record by leap
over last fence, into Cornwall. There
is a deal Of Garstin's own experience
Of life in this book, enough to give
it a touch of actuality 1t Is good
reading.
Devon and Phillpotts
Devon is rich in her possession OF
Eden Phillpotts. In years to come
ct, 20 rxrb< /,
and the one behind it, seeking in the
pages Of iiction interpretations of men
women and customs, Will 20 to Phil
potts for the true annals OF his little
corner of the world. There is Shake
spealean steel in the point of his pen,
an ability to get out of human beings
the essences of suffering and Joy and
put them on paper for eternity. He
has given In MS novels great part of
the life activities Of his county and
Of Cornwall. One novel is built up
around the querries, another is con-
cerned with the industry Of making
paper. The whims, the flashes Of spon-
taneous. shrewd wit, the provincial lit
tleness, yes, and bixness, of his people
get into types In his chapters. In
Miser's Money (Macmilan), published
in the spring Of this year, Phllpotts
cleverly made secretly hidden treas
ure in coin the material focus.
The tale of the struggle Of the
young fellow who finds the money in
the dirt OF his fields, Of his battle
against the grip of dead mans influ-
ence Il power for evil that would have
dwarfed him spiritually if triumphant
is undenably fine in it's unfoldngs
The woman, the wife, who helps, and
the little chorus of rustics, whose
choral criticisms and lonely comments
are much moro than fragments Of back
ground, are drawn with all Of the
authors rare skill If one wishes to
discover in fiction the sturdy tenure
Of British inheritance in terms of hu-
man life he can find It in any one of
this mans novels.
The Macmillan Company announces
q new novel by Phillpotts for this fall
It's title, The Grey Room, suggests that
he may be entering a new field, trying
his hand at o plot not bounded by
woods and running waters. but by the
strict narrowness Of a small space.
Devon also suggests Richard Dehan
who during recent years has expended