Evening star., 1928-12-02
REVIEWS OF NEWEST BOOKS
Fiction From Several AuthorsPau Wlstachs italian Hol-
day"-The Latest Volume Concerning the
Civil War President.

places over to readers In their fullness
Of both fact and implication.
X X X
BLACK SADIE: A novel. BY T. Bow
yer Campbell. Boston: Houghton
Mifflin Co.
A FIRST novel. An exciting piece
"A of work. The theme is striking
one. Moreover, this theme appears to
develop out of its own nature rather
than through the mediation of an au-
thor The vehicle of delivery-sen-
tences, paragraphs, chapters--is like a
mold which, receiving hot fluid mass,
delivers it finally in a record that
misses no single feature or line or
shadow even.
Black Sadie is a negro girl, drifteo
out of the South up to Harlem. Adap-
table as flowing water is to the pattern
of the banks along which it flows, Black
Sadie in no time at all began to take
on the dress and speech and ways of
the smart negroes of that New York
quarter. Before long Sadie became the
rage in the night clubs of Harlem.
She became an artists model Sadie
achieved lovers, yet always was this a
selective black girl. A shade aloof,
more than bit mySterious-indeed,
savoring of the SorceresS brand, though
Sadie herself would have known moth
ing at all as to the meaning of such a
designation. Such is the general at
mosphere of the development of Black
Sadie's story, story which at the end
turns adroitly into the quiet ways de-
liberately chosen by the age-old wis
dom of this negro girl from the South,
and, before that. from the heart of
| Africa Certainly nothing less that
| Of ia rla
| Sadie. The tempo of the story is one
of it's wonders. Because the tempo fits
| the tune so completely as to turn this
vivid night life of Harlem into per-
| petual jangle of jazz-into marvel
of syncopation that fits, amazingly, the
fact and spirit of the tale itself. A
| stunning harmonic whole has been
| evolved here by an author who knows
| the negro life of the South, who knows
| the negro, as Sadie, astonishing blend
| of crudity and Subtlety, proves. An
author who has commanded medium
of projection that is truly surprising.
Certainly the shadow Of genius was
upon this man in the making of his
first novel, BLACK Sadie"
| X X y 4
LINCOLN. BY Lucy Foster Madison
author of Joan of Arc" etc. Illus
|
Philadelphia: The Penn Publish
ing Co.
CHILDREN who draw this book, say
~ for Christmas, are promised q
double pleasure in it. First, there i:
sure to be the quick thrill of the gooc
story. And from this there Is the reach
out into regular history lessons which
unhappily, sometimes stretch a drearN
length along. At one point, however
the lucky youngsters who come int
possession of Lincoln" at the Christ
mas of 1923 will find a friend step
ping out of the lessons to meet them
The book in hand provides richly fo
just such a meeting. A book that i
good to see and feel. A generous bool
that fits the lap like glove. Paper
print, covers and pictures all stel
squarely up to the mark of genuin
excellence. A special word of prais
goes to the really beautiful picture
and to the fine decorative work. TIL
story itself is, fortunately, free of an.
strain to press its hero into his ulti
mate role of greatness. Rather doe
it move in leisurely fashion through
the early days of Lincoln's life, day
as different from those of the preSen
as II thousands of years instead of les
than a hundred had come in between
then and now One prime feature o
the story is that it so carefully ant
faithfully recreates the daily facts o
life when Lincoln was a boy comm
on toward his work in the world. TIL
house he lived in, the work he did, tn
food he ate, the play that interests
him, the wages he earned at work, tn
kind OF school that he went to-Oh, tn