New Books
p. 72 · Read in the full issue
Madman’S Island”, By Lon L.
Idriess. Our copy from Angus and
Robertson Ltd., Sydney. 6/-.
What would you do if you were marooned on a very small, mangrove island near the Barrier Reef, North Queensland, with nothing but a few simple articles of camp equipment?
It is indicated that there is nothing on the island to assist human existence except a small spring, liable to inundation during high tides.
That was the dismal situation in which Idriess and another man found themselves several years ago. But life was by no means dull.
There was the endless, primitive adventure of procuring food —in which every ounce of their bushcraft was called upon—and further excite ment lay in the fact that the other man was subject to spells of homicidal mania, during which he stalked Idriess purposefully among rocks and through mangrove thickets.
It is explained that Idriess wrote this book a long time ago. but it did not “click”. Now that he is Australia’s most successful author, the book has been revised; and Idriess’s large public will find much pleasure in it. Idriess, in his inimitable fashion, describes the strange ness of life in that lonely place; the grim intentness with which they set about matching their quickness and ingenuity against the cun ning of the fish and crabs which were their only hope of sustaining life; their despair as ships passed distantly, ignoring their frantic signals, and the months dragged on; and their primitive savagery whenever one of them went mad, and attacked the other. Idriess is at his best when describing the curious natural pheno mena of their bleak little island. An eminently readable book.
“MAELSTROM”, by E. V. Timms. Our
copy from Angus and Robertson, Ltd.,
Sydney, 8/6.
This admirable novel has been universally ac claimed, and it carries Mr. Timms to the front rank of British authors. The story opens with the death of Cardinal Richelieu, dictator of France; is interwoven closely with the dramatic national events which immediately followed: shifts for a time to England and introduces Oliver Cromwell; and ends in New France, which was being established then in Eastern Canada. It is an Alexander Dumas, or “Scarlet Pimpernel” type of story—it bristles with dar ing deeds and startling situations, portrays some very lovable women, introduces famous historical personages to its quick-moving drama, and it is endowed with much rich humour.
All critics have joined in chorus to praise the craftsmanship of Mr. Timms, who has succeed ed in building, against an historical back ground that appears to be most accurately and faithfully drawn, one of the best and liveliest stories we have read in years.