Evening star., 1934-08-01
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
Margaret GermoHd.

CORNER SHOP BY Philip Keeley.
New York: The Macmillan Co.
When Tom Brennan signed up with
the Yeoinanry and went to South
Africa to fight the Beers he left be
hind him in the thriving town of
Peterborough an irate wife and six
small children. There we're enough
Englishmen to subdue the refractory
colonists on the other side OF the
globe without Toms assistance, but
u is quite conceivable that in the
depths OF his peace-loving being he
knew that service in the front ranks
on a legitimate battle ground would
be mild form of entertainment COM
pared with the personally conducted
war which was waged with unceaS-
ing perseverance by his wife.
There was but one comfort for Mrs
Brennan in the temporary loss of her
husband Part of his service COM
pensation would be paid TO her dur
ing his absence, and II he should be
killed she would receive a pension for
the rest of her life. II he survived
the war and returned safely to his
home there would be goodly ac-
cumulation of his share of pay wait
ing for him, and with this she would,
Of course, have her own way. Selfish
shrewd and dominant. Mrs. Brennan
would be master or know the reason
why.
Tom came back from Africa. un-
harmed and well. He received his
back pay. And he refused to turn all
OF 1t over to his wife. Hostilities were
resumed as though they had never
been interrupted. Unlearned himself,
Tom had acquired liking for knowl-
edge from his superior officers in
Africa, and he longed to give Jim,
his eldest and favorite child, the ad-
vantages of an education. But Jims
m3ther had other ideas. Though only
ten, he was doing almost mans
work, and she did not intend to let
him waste any time on study that
might be turned into earning money.
Then Tom was killed, and Mrs. Bren-
nan knew that at last her one ambi-
ton was within her grasp. Always she
had wanted to operate a shop. and
with Toms money she would set up
in business.
If one-tenth Of the brainy business
men with large ideas possessed a
meager allotment of the sharp -witted
there would be no room in the eco
nomic structure for a panic or de-
preston. She opens a news stand
on busy corner and becomes i'm
mediately successful. A far sighted
and calculating buyer, a deceptive
bargainer for goods and an honest
seller, everything she handles turns
to money. She is feared by her chill
dren in their youth and hated by
them in their maturity. She is like
wise feared and hated by business
men, bankers and industrialiSts.
Then there is the other side of the
Brennan household, the story of the
six children and their experiences as
one by one they desert the slave-driv-
ing miser and venture into a world
of freedom and opportunity until only
worthless Tom, the youngest, remains.
The heartaches of broken romances,
the horrors of service in the Great
War, the successes and disappoint-
ments in business endeavors suffered
in the shaping of their own lives
breed no regrets in the hearts of these
valiant sons and daughters of Tom
Brennan for their willful abandon
ment of the money-mad woman who
bore them, and who remains magnifi-
Gently triumphant even in defeat.
Tie author of this remarkable
character study has been for some
time a contributor to the literary
columns of the Manchester Guardian.
Though he is now only forty flour
years old, he served in the Great
War, was taken prisoner by the Ger
mans and escaped alone through the
German lines. He is now. employed
in the circulation department of one
of the large daily newspapers in Eng
land Corner Shop" his first novel,
which was written during his free
evening hours, Is an achievement of
unusual merit and literary charm.