West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954), Saturday 10 January 1948, page 5


About Books

SEQUEL: Norman Lindsay can write almost as enter-tainingly as he can draw and paint. His recent ar-ticles on Dickens were master-pieces in their way. In "Half-way to Anywhere" he has pre-sented, with his own inimitable illustrations, a sequel to "Satur dee"--that understanding clas-sic of Australian boyhood that was so amusing. Angus and Robertson (Sydney) are the publishers. Bumnn: Pagoda romance, with exotic growth and green parrots and a background of brightly clad Burmese peasants, is provided in "The Purple Plain" (H. E. Bates). Though not a war novel, some of the incidents deal with bombs and tragedy and death. The author builds up a neat word picture of native children, and of dar-ing and of love and of frangi pani, mostly as they concern Miss McNab and Mr. Forrester who get on well. Michael Joseph Ltd. (London) are the publishers. Mystery: Gladys A. Hayne was one of the best known women writers in her day and now her daughter (Mary Hayne) has proved she has literary excellencies, too. "Don't Look Now," from her pen, has murder as its theme and the mystery involves the kind of suburban residents we all live near. This young author has humour and -her university training in Melbourne no doubt caused her to use a professor or two and a few padres in helping to. piece together the clues. Echidna Publishing Co. (Melbourne) are the publishers. Verse: "In Pensive Mood" is made up of the collected poems of Fay Adams, one of the senior pupils of Methodist Ladies' College, Claremont. Patersons Press Ltd. (Perth) are the publishers. Language: Who could be more suited than one who spent his youth in Central Australia to study the dialects of the Aborigines? T. G. H. Strehiow (research fellow in Australian Linguistics and lecturer in Eng lish Literature at the University of Adelaide) has this unique qualification and he has used it to advantage in producing "Aranda Traditions." This is a reprint of three papers ("North ern Aranda Myths," "Three Aranda Sub-groups." and

"Tjuruna Ownership") prepared for scientific purposes, and the collected (and revised) mate rial will be of great value to authorities and students. Mel bourne University Press are the publishers. Humour, "Sickness Without Sorrow" (G.P.) presents the amusing aspects of a doctor's life. Here the funny side of medicine is touched on with a light pen and the bright illus trations are by Alec Gurney. Royalties from this book go to the Food for Britain Fund. Robertson and Mullens Ltd. (Melbourne) are the publishers. Reprint: After being in de mand but out pf print for years, "Money Street" (J. K. Ewers), the entertaining novel of this city, is on the bookstalls again. Patersons Press Ltd. (Perth) are the publishers. Islands: 'The House on the Hill" (Helen D. Cato) is a description of life on a detached church station in the Fijian group. This young wife of a self-sacrificing missionary has the natural gift to write. The Book Depot (Melbourne) are the publishers. Manhunt: '"The Hunted" (Albert J. Guerard) is about a prison escapee who gets caught m a flood. A professor's wife at a nearby college befriends the hunted convict and their contact presents a study in psy chology, best understood when it is remembered that the lady in the case was a waif and a waitress before she entered the field of learning. The setting is in America and the time Christ mas. Longmans, Green and Co. (London) are the publishers.