Fiction
Beetle's Career. By Ronald Fraser. (Cape. 8s. 6d.)
The Wonder That Would Be. By John Fisher. (Hodder and Stoughton. los. 6d.) RONALD FRASER'S Marriage in Heaven was one of the pleasantest romantic novels of the 'thirties. Writers hate few things more than
wistful regret that they should have deserted a strain they have outgrown, but good romantic novels are so sadly rare today and fantasics so plentiful. Still even a fantasy, if it is by Mr. Fraser,
has its compensations, and Beetle's Career, his latest, has many.
Beetle is a Brain, a fine scientific Brain, without enough imagination to develop a morality but just enough to realise he lacks one.
Indeed, this lack is forcibly clarified for him by a machine of his own invention which photographs the soul, and to which he is continually resorting as some people periodically retest themselves
On iorne.such quiz as "Have You a Noble Personality ? ". or " Are You.Attractive to the Opposite Sex ? " But the chances of. Beetle developidg a really photogenic soul would seem to be small, since the invention on which he, most prideS himself, the invention by which he will make himself master of all, is a weapon oflotal integration. His third invention, and his most charming, is a means of Pyrofeehnically:displaying sonorous phantoms across the skies. With these three inventions, with an enchanting wife and a Roman Catholic priest for a friend, Beetle struggles for his soul. As absays, Mr. Fraser is at his best when describing colours, textures, rooms that people have 'nide beautiful ; as far as plot and development go,-,-this is hot one of his better books, but it is original and witty,,Palid- offers much thoughtful pleasure.
A Chair by the Fire is a touching and pathetic book, something that might have been no more than a popular magazine story, and yet oddly is. It is about David, down from Yale, working in an advertising agency in New York, and then throwing up his glittering prospects to spend a year in Europe and develop his gifts as a painter. Just before he goes he meets Sand (a very magazine-story name), the daughter of a rich liberal and herself nearly a Com- munist. Both recognise simplicity and integrity in the other and fall in love, but when Sand wants her happy ending right away, David knows exactly what further development he needs and scants to pursue this before making final decisions. Before he sails, Sand finds what David always knew, that the answer to the evils 01 materialism lies in respect for the individual and happy family life. (Sad that Americans go through such literary anguish In discover what we take for granted here—or is that too smug ?) The book has several minor merits like interesting characters, a decent prose, and some witty descriptions of the materialism to be shunned, but where it unconsciously achieves its effect is in the naive idealism
of youth that shines through it all. •
Meg shows a different and very much nastier side of America. Of its kind it's very well done, with sensitive descriptions of niahY maladjusted and distasteful people, but what a depressing and morbid nastiness the whole thing adds up to ! The Beckoning Shore is a sort of minor Fanny by Gaslight shout Australia and more particularly Sydney in 1836. Elizabeth Hollev, friendless at home, goes out as a governess, is shipwrecked. picked up by a convict ship, suffers innumerable hardships and finally finds happiness. The historical information incidentally imp.aled is overwhelming. Most of it, particularly that dealing with the social conditions in this dump for England's criminal misfits, is absorbing. though Mr. Timms cannot forbear to impart to us every detail be has gleaned in the course of his research. If just a little of this encyclopaedic outpouring is skipped, here is a full, tempestuous, continuously interesting novel for people who can take a very great deal of cruelty, violence and vice. The Wonder That Would Be. also historical, is on a calmer plane, and deals with three generations of a family, each absorbed I” the problems of aviation. As for the last book, much res:arch has been done, but here no one with an initial interest In the subject will find it a whit too much. Fathers who have finished the book may well hand it down to aeronautically-minded schoolboY
sons. MARGHANITA
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