New Books

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

RECOMPENSE--Robert Keable--Putnam ($2.00). This is the sequel to the same author's Simon Called Peter-- which fact carries either its own invitation or warning. In it Mr. Keable has written "not necessarily what I would wish, but what appears to me, in some form or another, given the natures of Peter and Julie, inevitably and substantially would be." Amid shifting scenes-- Africa, England, Spain--there is the same shifting conflict of will, purpose and desire as in the earlier book, the same religious controversialism, finishing with an unexpected and startling denouement

VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE--E. F. Benson--Doran ($2.00). The last word in literary delirium tremens. A collection of stories that would make a ghost blanch with horror and wrap his white sheets closer about him for protection. Disinterred corpses, supernatural beings, voices from the grave, razors dripping blood, coffins that won't stay underground--till the palsied reader dare not make a dash to negotiate that dark hall which leads to bed and safety. One is left with the conviction that Author Benson must still be sitting up somewhere. How did he ever dare go to bed after writing it?

THE SOUL OF SAMUEL PEPYS--Gamaliel Bradford -- Houghton Mifflin ($3.50). A penetrating, humorous and well-balanced appraisal of the Diarist. Gamaliel Bradford brings to his task that curious mixture of scholarly precision and sprightly irrelevancy of comment which has stamped him as America's most potent contender in the field of illuminating biography. If one would know more about Pepys than can be gleaned from the colyums of the Manhattan daily that records the doings of his modern prototype, ecce liber.

W. H. HUDSON: A PORTRAIT--Morley Roberts--Dutton ($5.00). A kaleidoscopic picture of the many-sided Hudson, done with honesty, humor and appreciativeness by his great and good friend. This is not a biography but a casually constructed group of stories and criticisms that merge into a coherent whole. Hudson stands, a hawklike, savage, difficult figure outlined in sweeping strokes against the background of a loveless marriage, drab boarding house surroundings, and fame that came too late for him 'to enjoy. His is the spirit of genius; he loved the windswept downs, the wild barren places, the creatures of the forest, the wayside inns far better than his own front parlor.