Evening star., 1939-01-01


1Drote "The Great American
| Novel,"
with the heather in 17th century
South America: an unusual kind
of adventure tale.
TO Remember at. Midnight" by
Michael Foster William Morrow g.
Coz, the quietly vivid story of an
actress life, set against the wild
Northwest country; poetic and emo
| tional
Coming From the Fair" by Norah
Hoult (Covici Friede), capital story
of Ireland and the breakdown of
a good religious family under the
strain of modern cynicism; sorrow
full, but absorbing.
The Noise of Their Wings" by
Mackinlay Kantor Coward Nc
Cann), strange tale in which a
tycoon devotes his life to an effort
to re-establish the passenger pigeon
in American wildlife, the hero of
the tale being the vanished fowl
whose history has evidently taken
possession of Mr. Kantor's imagina-
ton.
Harvest Comedy" by Frank Swim
merton doubleday Doran), nice
little story Of three boys in an Eng
lish village and how they grew up
to fight one another all their lives
long; placid and amusing.
Day of Battle" by Vincent Shean
doubleday Doran). a blow by blow
account of the Battle of Fontenov,
full of impressive learning-and do
you know what the Battle of Fonte-
noy was about?
The Moon Is Feminine" by Glenn
ence Dane doubleday Doran)
weird story of an 18th century Eng
lish beau who had sea gypsy blood
in his veins and brought sorrow on
the woman who loved him.
"Luckypenny,' by Bruce Marshall
(E. P. Dutton co.., madly jum-
bled tale of the rise of a humble
bookkeeper to dictatorship of an
armaments company, and his pre-
cipitate fall; hardly logical, but en-
tertaining.
Action at Aquila," by Hervey
Allen (Farrar & Rinehart); a Civil
War novel which stands up very we'll
with the rest of them.
THE Great American Novel," by
Owen Davis CFarrar & RineharD
dead pan comedy portrait of
good, dumb boy who happened to
be neWspaperman: bit monoton-
Gus, but a first-rate account of q
| thlrd-rate mentality.
May Flavin,' by Myron BRING
tFarrar & Rineharu; one of those
tender-hearted and sentimental
Irish stories in which a woman loves
her man; the reviewer could not bear
it, but saw that it had great posi-
bllities for devotees of the Ferber
school of typewriting.
The Generals Lady" by Esther
Forbes (Harcourt, Brace e. Co... an
other of Miss Forbes early New Eng
land stories. this time ending with
the lady getting hanged for murder
which she did not commit-and how
this author revels in scaffold scenes,
to be sure!
I'm Hazard" by Richard Hughes
(Harper & Bros), fine account of
a ship in tornado.
"Old Haven" by Cornell De Jong
(Houghton Mifnlin), rambling and
mellow tale of life in Dutch village,
very good.
wolf Among Wolves by Hans
Fallada C. P. Putnam's Sons. a
very long and complicated, but read
able story of postwar Germany.
centering in one of Herr Falladas S
typical tender romances. but cover
ing the well-known social scene
pretty thoroughly too.
"The Unvanquished,' by William
Faulkner Random House,, a re-
lated series of short stories describ-
ing the troubles of the civilian South
in the last days of the Civil War.
Mans Hope" by Andre Malraux
(Random House,, terrifically serious
and strongly written novel of war
in Spain.
"This Proud Heart" by Pearl Buck
(Reynal & Hitchcock, an effort in
novel form to explain why women
artists are artists, a matter which
the winner of this years Nobel Prize
for literature seems to feel requires
apology.
"The Yearling," by Marjorie Kin
nan Rawlings (Charles Scribner's
Sons, touching little tale of a
boys love for pet fawn, and SEEM
ingly a permanent best seller.
4 X 4
Coming to 1885 biographies, the
reviewer offers the following four
as her choices: Master Kung," by
Charles Crow CHarper & Bros), a
scholarly and entertaining life of
the sage whom we call Confucius;
II Follow st. Patrick" by Gogarty
(Reynal & Hitchcock), a beautifully
written story of 1reland's saint, told
by the authors method of visiting
those places which are associated
with the saints life; Benjamin
Franklin by Carl Van Doren (the
Viking Press, mastery synthesis
Of all the Franklins to date, and
"Conqueror of the Seas" by Stefan
Zweig the Viking Press, the i'm
mensely moving story of Magellan
and how he bluffed Spain's court.
These four books are masterpieces
in their way and deserve lasting
places among fine biographies. Other
good life histories published in 1888
are included on the list which fol-
lows:
Chang Kai-shek," by Wellington
Tong China Publishing Co.., the
authorized biography of strong man
of the Far East, long and detailed,