Evening star., 1933-10-01
VANESSA. BY Hugh Walpole Garden City:
Doubleday, Doran q Co.


alities We wish he had. The family as we
know it begins with Rogue Herries, in the
novel Rogue Herries," that inconsistent but
very human mixture Of harshness and ten
derness, Of vagabondage and strange mysti-
cism which makes him see visions. The Rogue
stamps his pattern to a greater or less degree
on all his descendants His daughter, who
dominates the two succeeding volumes, "Ju-
dith Paris" and THE Fortress" combines many
of the qualities of her father and her gypsy
mother. Mirabel Starr, with some which seem
entirely her own. As THE Fortress closes, she
is celebrating her Tooth birthday, which also
proves to be the day of her death. Meanwhile
the story has moved through period beginning
with the lusty Georgians and coming down
through the Napoleonic era and part Of the
Victorian age to the eos. Judith Paris has one
son, Adam, lllegitimate, who is the father Of
beautiful Vanessa, Is when her part Of the
chronicle opens.
Vanessa is heir to the conflict which always
exists in the Herries nature. At her grand
mothers Tooth birthday she is already in love
with her second cousin, Benjamin, great-grand-
Of Judith's older brother David. CThe Her
ries genealogy is fascinating and is set forth
on long sheet at the back of the volume).
Benjamin, "the rascal is also much in love
with Vanessa as his wild and selfish nature will
permit Another cousin in love with VanesSa
is Ellis, grandson OF David, financially much
more desirable as husband than the lawless
insanity which Is strain in the Herries fam
lily. Marrying Ellis, Vanessa always loves the
undeServing Benjie and her daughter Sally Is
also Benjie's daughter. Here appears again
the family tendency to illegitimacy. Mr.. Wal
pole continually emphasizes the hereditary
characteristics in each generation and in all
the members OF the Herries family. Vanessa
in her relations with Benjie reverts to the
gypsy ways Of her great-grandmother, Mirabel
Starr. Her wanderings with Benjie in Cumber-
land give MI. Walpole opportunity for some OF
his best descriptive writing writing obviously
done con amore for Cumberland is the part of
England which is his especial choice. 1T Is q
country so small that the sweep of the eagles
wings careSseS all Of it, but there Is no ground
in the world mroe mysterious, no land at once
so bare in its nakedness, warm with sun and
cold with pitiless stone, so gentle and pastoral
so wild and lovely" VaneSsa-Benjie-El
the attractions and reputsons of their three
lives form the groundwork of this last Of the
Herries novels, which ends In 1882 at the Her
res Bridge, by Rosthwaite, where the chron-
icle began. The final part, after VaneSsa had
left all the complexities Of her life, Is con-
cerned with her daughter Sally and Sallys
halfbrother. Tom.
Many critics compare Hugh Walpole's Her
ries series with Galsworthy's "Forsyte Saga"
Except for the fact that both are long family
chronicles, there seems no very good reason for
comparing two such different pieces of work.
chiefly Londoners and he has employed in
their portrayal consistent realism. Hugh WAL
pole Is writer in whom realism and romanti-
cism struggle and are blended. He has
mystical side almost equal to that Of his
Rogue" He can at times write the baldest
realism and at other times the most convinc-
ing ghost stories. So, In his Herries novels he
has combined realism and romance, and the re-
suit is a great piece of fiction which should
have permanent place in the small assemblage
of best twentieth century literature In his
whimsical predatory letter, Mr.. Walpole calls
the attention of readers and critics to the fact
that "long novels are no new thing, and have
been always In the tradition of the English
novel. Yet more boldly would say that in
this present case these four Herries novels are
intended to be read as one novel. and I hope
that some day there will be reader who will
both live long enough and be idle enough to
read them sol" Can novel be too long, If it
is as good as the Herries series? To this re-
viewer, it seems not.
MISS BISHOP. BY Bess Streeter Aldrich
New York: D. Appleton Century Co.
THE old-fashioned woman, whose ideal was
] service and whose service was usually ac-
cepted all too willingly by those whom she
served without much recognition on their part
that she, too, might have her needs and her de-
sires, has been brought to very vivid life in
Mrs. Aldrichs novel. In "A Lantern in Her
danC, AODie Oedi, Tile plOueer "oIldIl, SpcuC
her life in following her husband into hard new
places, where primitive conditions offered her
no aid in the work which was never ended.
Other pioneer women managed to escape some
of the heaviest burdens, avoided some Of the
responsibilities, but Abbe escaped and avoided
nothing, to the end of her life. Her family
loved her, yes, in the selfish way that the
families Of such women love them. Occasion
ally they thought of what they could do for
her, but usually of what she could and would
do for them. But Abbie was happy, because
she the kind of woman who craved service
to others and did not mind being imposed upon
by those she loved. In Miss Bishop" Mrs. AID
rich has created another Abbie with different