There is an old Dartmoor legend about the waters of Nymphala, which bring forgetfulness to whoever drinks of them. A young priest comes to this spring, drinks and encounters, under romantic circumstances, Petronel, spirit of the moor. An unusual and very beautiful love story springs from this meeting, which ends in an unexpected but logical and wholly satisfying manner.
This is not a "literary" book. It is just the straight-forward, unadorned story of a fine, big-hearted woman. Jane gives an intimate picture of the life that is lived by most women the world over, and you will follow her narrative with breathless interest. It will impress you always with its humor, its kindliness, but, above all, with its essential truth.
LIFE'S LURE: A NOVEL. By John G. Neihardt.
A brisk and vigorous story of life in a Western mining camp. Mr. Neihardt shows you men (and women) stripped of the frills and trivialities of our civilization and reduced to their more fundamental and primitive selves. Always the lure of life, the mere desire above all else to live dominates them.
A big-hearted book this, rich with pathos and with humor, with homely good nature no less than with hideously cruel realism. You will not quickly forget Sam Drake, torn with hunger, crawling on his hands and knees back to camp: nor great-hearted Ma Wooliver and Pete: nor poor little Punkins (who should never have left the folks at Johnson Corner), dreaming everlastingly of nuggets such as no man ever found. Mr. Neihardt knows such people as these; he knows our Western country, and "Life's Lure" rings true from cover to cover.
ORTHODOXY: A PLAY IN ONE ACT. By Nina Wilcox Putnam.
Do you always say what you really think? Of course you don't; no one does. Only consider--you meet a stranger--"How do you do?" you say, "I'm so glad to meet you." But are you? More often than otherwise you are not. Mrs. Putnam has exposed in a satiric, though not too bitter spirit this most common of all of our little hypocrisies. In "Orthodoxy" her people say exactly what in their hearts of hearts they are thinking, though they act as we all do. The result is--to say the least--startling.
FATHER RALPH: A NOVEL. By Gerald O'Donovan.
This novel of present-day Ireland enjoyed an immense success when it appeared in London something over a year ago. Mr. O'Donovan writes delightfully and possesses a style of real distinction. "Father Ralph" presents a faithful picture of the life of the Irish people of today--particularly of their religious life, which is analyzed with shrewdness, insight and humor. But the book has, first of all, those enduring qualities that characterize all good fiction.