Evening star., 1936-11-21
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
MARGARET GERMOND.
SAND CASTLE. BY Janet Beth. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.

l MAAChh61 G6AMONO.
SAND CASTLE. BY Janet Beth. New
York: Frederick A. Stokes Co.
The modest young school teacher
whose shyness prevented the arrange
ment of a ceremonial program OF pres
entation when her first novel, "No Sec
ond Spring." won the $4,000 Interna-
tional Prize Award, has emerged with
another worthy novel after three years
OF seclusion and silence. Everything
about the first novel gave assurance that
Miss Beth would not be a one-success
performer. The winner of such an award
is expected to continue writing. Besides,
the book amply justified the belief that
its author possessed genuine talent and
the enduring ability to give it rein in
its natural direction. A great deal was
expected from Miss Beth in her second
effort, and her new novel gives no occa-
sion for disappointment.
sand Castle" differs both in character
and in import from the profound con-
victions which unobtrusively. though
forcefully, traced the pattern OF mo
Second Spring." No dominant person.
ality obsessed with an overwhelming
awe at his creative ability and the divin-
ity Of his particular mission to gather
into the kingdom Of heaven the be-
nighted souls of a remote area marches
through these pages at the expense OF
q far superior and more divinely en-
dowed wife. 1t is a simple, Straightfor-
ward story of love and courage that
might well be written Of almost any
average group of closely associated in
dividuals who have little opportunity to
avoid social as well as business COM
panionship.
Two young men, David and Alan
Stewart fresh from the Highlands which
withhold no secrets from Janet Beth,
arrive in the noisy, sitting maelstrom
of Manchester to take positions with
the old firm of Appleby & Sons because
Charles Appleby, who had chanced upon
the boys while on visit to Argyll had
liked the lads and promised them a
future in the business, which was in
herited from a proud line of ancestors.
Likable and lovable are both of these
honest hopeful lads for whom the door
of opportunity has thus been opened.
They reach Stubbleheys. the home Of
their future employer, in the dead of
a densely foggy night. and are admit
ted by Annis Appleby. handsome and
unsophisticated daughter of the head
of the house of Appleby. Awkward and
shy. hungry and cold, discouraged and
depressed by the noise and confusion of
their Journey and of the hustle of the
big city in which they are to sink or
swim, they are embarrassed and self
conscious before their hostess, but a
spark of sympathy is ignited by Davids
friendly smile, and the inevitable love
triangle is forged.
A superior form of devotion exists be-
tween these brothers. though tempera-
mentally they are extreme opposites.
Alan is steady, sure, determined and in
terested in his new job. But David is
victim of emotional and spiritual con-
flicts which torment his soul and make
life in the crowding, suffocating city un-
bearable He loves Annis with all of
his finest nature, and she loves him
wholly in return, even when she knows
that he is unfaithful. Alan loves
her, but he loves David also, and he
knows that it is to David that Annis
belongs.
Ten years of faithful devotion and
slow progress in the big city pass, with
Alan gaining in the noisy bedlam while
David still longs for freedom from the
tentacles of the industrial octopus that
seeks to hold him in bonds which he
hates. The Boer War offers an oppor-
tunity of escape and he accepts it. Alan
seeks to follow the brother whom he
adores, but Charles Appleby exacts a
promise which keeps him in Manchester
and eventually places him in an en-
viable position. Meanwhile his love for
Annis grows in strength and in beauty.
Such a triangle is not novel theme,
nor is the industrial and social back
ground of a thriving English business
city new or enthralling, but the story
which Janet Beth weaves through this
time worn pattern is wholesome and
satisfying, giving beauty and strength to
a tale of love and courage which breathes
a new warmth into the hearts of readers
who still believe that few of the funda-
mental principles OF reality m human
relationships have survived the mad
house existence which seems to be the
ideal of modernism.
GREAT LAUGHTER. BY Fannie Hurst.
New York: Harper & Bros.
The Jalna saga again is brought to
mind by another author who has turned
to the dominant old woman theme as q
wheel around which to spin three sue
ceeding generations of a stock that
dwindled rather than grew strong upon
the blood of sturdy line of ancestors.
1t is q theme which Mazo de la Roche
made famous, and it would seem that
the field might be considered more or
less neglected by others in an age when
so many problems offer opportunity for
fictional treatment. Several writer's have
adopted the same idea. however, and
now Fannie Hurst joins the procession.
The story opens in 1920, when Gre
grannie is past eighty and the big, ugly old
house in St. Luke's place is the camp
ing place of all but one of the huge
family that has sprung from the union
in Scotland in 1855 of Linda Abbey Nc
Fac and Lawrence Campbell. Only two
children were born to this worthy pair,
Linda and Wallace. The later, wan
derer and eventually suicide, did not
marry. But Linda and her flock OF ten
Neales has made up in quantity, II not
In quality. for Wallaces failure. And SO
Linda. her children and her grandchil-
dren dance to the tune which the grand
old lady pipes.
Gregrannie is disappointed In the
brood of Neales who live on her bounty,
and she has good reason to be disgusted
with their failures and with the futility
D,,t 6n