A PLAIN TALE FROM THE BOGS By Rearden Conner
Mr. Rearden Conner has had rather a wretched time and wants to tell everyone about it. He was persecuted by his schoolfellows in Dublin because his father was a Government Servant, and at home was ill-treated by the father for whom at school he suffered. The horrors of the Black and Tan regime and the tragedies of the Civil War came upon him at almost the most impressionable age. His misfortunes did not end with his youth. He migrated to England in pursuit of fortune, but at first found only unem- ployment or uncongenial jobs. Once he attempted suicide, but that like his other plans miscarried. Not until quite recently did he escape from the rut of misfortune and emerge as a reasonably successful author—and even then the literary circles in which he found himself moving were not, alas, congenial. This book (John Miles, 8s. 6d.) modu- lates between keys of self-pity and ill-temper ; it would be easier to sym- pathise with Mr. Conner if he did not condole with himself so much; it would be more worth while listening to his fierce denunciations of the world if he could learn that. the bitterest comment is often also the most obvious. The title, one is glad to be able to reassure prospective readers, has no connexion with the book.
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