Good Books

The following estimates of books much in the public eye were made after careful consideration of the trend of critical opinion:

DOCTOR NYE--Joseph C. Lincoln --Appleton ($2.00). When Doctor Nye came back to North Ostable his return and the reasons for it offered a perennial bonne bouche for all the gossips of Cape Cod, Why, the man had embezzled a church fund and gone to jail for it (and it was lucky his poor wife had died just before he was found out). How Doctor Nye rehabilitated himself against heavy odds--how he protected two young star-crossed lovers in spite of their warring families--how he finally established his innocence even in the eyes of his pompous brother-in-law-- is told through some 400 leisurely and amusing pages, spiced with the particular brand of Cape Cod humor that has made Mr. Lincoln a bestseller. The happy ending is just as it ought to be.

EMILY OF NEW MOON--L. M. Montgomery--Stokes ($2.00). There is good pollyanity and bad pollyanity. This is good pollyanity--at least one can read it without wishing to rush out instanter and murder the first quaint child one sees. We have with us again the precocious girl orphan who confides in her diary and longs to be an author--the unsympathetic relatives who are won over by her shy independence -- the Great Family Secret--the letters to Father in Paradise--etc., etc. But the peppermint sticks are tastier than the run of such literary peppermint sticks; the author knows her locale, Prince Edward Island, and writes of it with some intelligence. All in all it is a wonderful book to give that old-fashioned aunt. But be sure to include a box of handkerchiefs, too-- for it's the sort of glad book that calls for a good, long cry.

THE END OF THE HOUSE OF ALARD-- Sheila Kaye-Smith--Dutton ($2.00). Here is another lengthy, careful study of the decay of an English county family by the author of Joanna Godden. The Alards were land-poor and stubborn with pride--they could afford to keep two cars for the sake of their position but they could not afford the most necessary repairs on their farms. As a matter of economic fact they cumbered the ground, and the slow pressure of economic facts at last destroyed them. A thorough, complete dissection of an acute problem in present-day England--well worth reading.