Evening star., 1925-05-10
Reviews Of Spring Books
e. G. Wells and His Year of Prophesying Sir Arthur
Quler-Couch Tells Of His Adventures in Criticism.
8 .z The Newest Novels Of the Season. a*1<

ri5 g. = . -
SHAKEN DOWN. BY Alice Mac
Gowan and Perry Newberry, au-
thors Of The Million Dollar Suit
case" etc. New York: Frederic A.
Stokes Co.
A MOTHER case for Jerry Boyne-
that fighting fooP' Of an Irish
policeman upon whom these authors
have before staked fortune. A kid
naped child brings the adventure up
to the moment, indicating also that
this Is no new business, for the story
goes back to, the San Francisco OF
1905, letting the great earthquake take
hand in the outcome of Shaken
Down." You may be sick, almost to
death. OF the modern sleuth. trying, I'm
effectually, to hold up SO large sec
tion of current fiction. No doubt you
are. But you do like Jerry Boyne.
Not on account of his subtle reason
ing. Jerry doesn't reason. He just
runs in straight line after his
quarry fighting everything that in
tervenes along the way. He's so
straight and simple. and modest. too.
And, in this particular case, you are
no more puzzled than is Jerry himself
to find that his very real dangers
seem Ito come from the fellows"
| themselves who have the habit of mis-
| taking him for the getaway upon
whom they expend an enormous
/ energy of pursuit and ingenuity of
| assault. :, All mistake, - OF course,
and Jerry has no time. for under
| standings. He's too busy trying to
find that boy The fact that the
| father has fatty refused to stake the
ransom of 500, 900 Is nothing to Jerry
| Boyne. The stolen boy is what he's
after. There's a curious i'll luck about
| it all--his forever getting in bad with
the force" That's the point of this
unusual and really exciting tale of
| Of whole cloth, this adventure, of
! course. Else it would look pretty
bad for the force"
PRINCESS AMELIA. BY Garcia
I Oman, author of "The Road
Royal. New York: Dufield & Co.
lTHE, true love story of happy end
= ing is much less at home in the
kings palace than in the workman's
cottage. Coming under the arbitra-
ment of statecraft rather than ro-
nance, royal alliances provide the
story teller with the most useful of
fields for the portrayal of unhappy
love. This author, daughter of dis
tinguished historian, makes use Of an
episode out. of history for the por-
pathetic implications and effects. The
story is drawn from the court of
George III, centering around the old
kings best beloved child Princess
Amelia. A touching little narrative
sympathetic in feeling; simple in pro.
lection. George III-his period, his
court, himself-is of a very special
interest TO American readers of their
Town history: And here is vivid pic
- H. 81
and Queen Charlotte-or of such home
life as royalty is permitted to possess
tAround them lords and ladies in wait
ing: around them the eighteenth cen
tury ceremonials of court and state
migrations from London to Windsor
and back again; glimpses of Kew
passing touches of this or that one
J whose memory has held up TO the
present-Fanny Burney, Jane Austen
among them. Indeed, save to those
for whom love story is the supreme
lure, it is this picture of the old king
and his court, where, in. effect, our
own Revolution got to it's feet, that
gives to the novel it's. real substance
and deepest interest.
X
SECRET GOLD. BY Alice NJ. William
son, author of THE Princess Pass
es," etc. New York: Doubleday
Page & Co.
: THE ten-thousandth variant of the
, = old buried treasure and it's quest
Here, however, to spice up the ancient
tale. woman Is the hunter. To be
sure, in almost no time at all an en-
gaging young man attaches himself
to the expedition, but. ostensibly, a
least, he is there to take orders an6
not to give them. Again, to give
fresh flip to an old matter. this ad
Notwithstanding the water-loggeC
business set by Kidd and Morgan ano
beard-takes to the Southwest
with New Mexico and Arizona and the
Grand Canyon for scenic background
and problematic cache of the treasure
itself. The plot. in its contributing
action and climax, is overdrawn drama
: touched with comedy of the sturd!
and substantial sort. The kind oi
story that is bent on coming out right
believe 1t or not. The setting here Ii
the prime thing, for the author treat.
! the drama of the land itself with sym
, pathy and a real distinction. Agains
this, too, she has wrought out a flint
, store of Indian legend, an interesting
: sum of information about the Hop
Indians, familiar handling of tht
. Indian reHcs with which the region Il
, being recognized as. a storehouse ye
scarcely touched. On the whole, quite
above the commonplace. this novel
, since to the clearly melodra matte plot
the author has added a very substan
tial background of historic conten
and most picturesque quality. 80
HENRY CABOT LQDGE-THE
. STATESMAN. BY Charles Stuar,
Groves. Boston; Small, Maynard
! & Co. E,