Evening star., 1938-06-08
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
BY MARGARET GERMOND.
THE LEN1ENT GOD. BY Naomi Jaco1

I
New York: The Macmillan Co.
A novel by Naomi Jacob may always
| be relied upon as substantial and en-
tertaining companion. She has the gift
| OF presenting English family life, in viii
| lage, IN farm country, or in crowded
London, SO intimately and with such
| keen characterization that the scene be-
comes familiar and the men and women
| whose activities and interests are inter-
| preted become warmly human people,
endeavoring to keep step to the tune Of
life about them, striving for happiness,
| suffering disappointments and disillus-
ionments, working and playing accord
| ing to the lot that fate has decreed to
be theirs.
Present-day London is the scene of
this newest story Of a family belonging
to that substantial body of citizenry
which works hard, has no time for or in
terest in the ideologies of rainbow
| chasing reformers who seek to reduce
| society to common level, and holds to
| Its faith in honesty and respectability.
The family consists of Bill Warren, his
| mother, his sister, his brother and his
| grandmother. Bill is bus driver and
has been for good many years when
the events recorded In this story take
| place.
When as youngster Bill had come
home with the news that he had been
| awarded scholarship for st. Mervyn's
College his father and mother were
justly proud. Three years in the college
opened the way for possibly two years at
Cambridge. He liked books and study
| and the experience Of pitting his brains
against those Of other boys and beating
them hands down gave him keen pleas
ure. He had loved college and was max
ing fine progress when an unfortunate
episode in the room of one of the profess
sors resulted in putting an end to his
| formal education. If the Warrens had
been socially prominent matters would
| undoubtedly have taken different turn,
put Bllfs father was grocer, so the lad
| left school and went to work in the
| store.
So keen disappointment is not easv
| for young man to bear. Bill hated the
| grocery and took job in a garage,
| which led to another position as a com
I-blnation OF manservant and friend to a.
wealthy man whose poor condition of
| health required seasonal moves to suit
| able climates. While working in this
| capacity and getting something out of
life that served as not too meager a sub
| stitute for career that college may have
fitted him for, Bill had met young
woman for whom he cherished a deep
and abiding love. Circumstances which
| neither OF them could surmount had sep
arated them, and after the death Of Bills
| employer and friend he returned to the
| nome OF his mother and regressed to
the status OF bus driver.
| Zen years have passed and Bills life
has been filled largely with the petty af-
fairs OF family association that sometimes
develop into major crises. Her sister Elsie
conducts millinery shop and under the
influence OF fioorwalker boy friend de-
| VelopS into characteristic snob. Johnnie
is one OF those pathetic souls with an in
| feriority complex who dons an armor of
| pretense in the hope that 1t will make
him what he wants to be. Elsie marries
him. Eileen, cinema-mad girl who
works in Elsies shop thinks she would
Ike to marry Bill and manages to nego-
tiate an engagement to him. Knowing
his love for Elspeth Simmons to be hope
less. he seeks comfort in the promise
| OF home of his own. But Eileen meets
his brother Arthur who is as handsome
| as matinee idol and who loves the
| movies as much as she does, SO they
elope.
And through all of the family ups and
downs and quarrels runs the sharp sar-
casm OF old Gran, whose tongue is ever
ready with an apt retort or comment upon
the shortcomings of Arthur and Elsie and
whose wit remains keen and tart to the
| end Of her life. Also there is the shrewd-
ness and sympathy of Bills mother.
| whose capability in handling her family
| is marked by deep understanding. She is
| Yorkshire woman, whose roots are in
| the soil and whose whole nature re-
| sponds to the opportunity which comes
| to Bill to leave London and go to a quiet
countryside home near Cambridge where
they both may enjoy peace. More years
have rolled by and time has taken its toll
| OF Bill in numerous ways, but time, he
learns, is indeed lenient god.
*&AA
COLLEGE SQUARE. BY Susan Good
year. New York: Charles Scribner's
Sons.
This the sort of story that reads two
ways, depending upon the point Of view
| from which 1t is approached. It has been
said by some one who ought to know that
there are two kinds of people in the
world-school teachers and just people
The outsider, looking in upon the tangle
OF few lives bound by the limitations
| and traditions of professional interests,
| will find Susan Goodyear's novel an en-
tertalning romance that runs true to
| form in the nature and complexity OF its
theme and in its character delineation
and Interpretation. It may be lkened
to an entertaining variety OF the little
social circles familiar to the dwellers in
| all small towns, circles zone would love
| to live in for time and then leave" 1t
| is "a good story, well written, and has
a sympathetic though not vital appeal.
The other side of the picture is that
which will be keenly appreciated by those
who have lived on the college square
| and who by choice or compulSion have
| left it for a broader form Of life. Absence
and distance from the scene over Pc
riod Of years permits retrospective en-
| joyment that is likely to find humor
rather than romance in the situations
which are not uncommon in the social
circles of all college squares.
There are six houses facing the square
of this particular English country college.
They are the homes Of the staff members,
and within their doors are bred the am
billions and jealousies, the loves and the
| hatreds that tangle lives and nearly
wreck the college before the clouds van
ish and the two love affairs turn out
happily.
| THE MISSING AUNT. BY G.. D. H. and
Margaret Cole. New York: The Mac