‘Divorce and After
CALL IT FREEDOM. By Marian Sim,.
320 pp. Philadelphia: J. It. Lippineott
Co. $2.50.
Back from Reno, where she has di
vorced her drunken husband, Martha
Freer Harvey is faced with the problem,
of starting life anew in the little North
Carolina city that was her husband’s
home. How she meets, many difficult
situations and develops so that she can
calmly meet the future make a story that
is well worth the reading.
In writing “Call It Freedom,” Marian
Sims has drawn a picture of a small com
munity that will be familiar to many. It
is a community of average people, pre-
MARIAN SIMS
occupied with golfing, dancing, drinking
and card-playing. Into this society,
Martha attempts to resume her former
place, but learns that things are different
when one is divorced, particularly when
one is an attractive divorcee of only
thirty-four.
As one who has been to Reno, Martha
is looked upon as fair prey by the males
of the community. There are three men,
however, who are most intrigued by her,
and it is her experiences with these three
which cause her to realize that she can
at last stand alone, even though it means
the renunciation of the man she loves.
The general interest of the theme, and
Miss Sims’ sympathetic and delightful
presentation of it make this one of the
season’s best books of fiction. It is just
about perfect for warm-weather reading.
1937 zATessiab
GOD IN A ROLLS ROYCE. By John
Hoshor. 272 pp. New York: Hillman-
Curl. $2.30.
This story of the little Negro enigma,
Father Divine, unlike Parker’s “The In
credible Messiah,” does not attempt to
explain why such a phenomenon came to
be; it states the case in the form of good
reporting. If you Tire interested in the
social implications of Father Divine, we
recommend you to Mr. Parker’s book; if
you want to know as much as possible
about the good Father’s strange cult, we
refer you to Mr. Hoshor’s study.
He has done a remarkable job of com
pilation, considering how shy Father
Divine and all his angels and disciples are
of publicity—of certain kinds. He-tells of
the hazy, down-South background of
George Baker, who used to cut hedges in
Baltimore. He tells how Baker came in
contact with a missionary of his own race,
called Father Jchovia. and how the man’s
teachings influenced him.
With careful attention to detail, Mr.
Hoshor traces the rise of the undersized
Father from the time he identified him
self with Father Jehovia until he became
a figure of at least national prominence.
Or, as Mr. Hoshor puts it: “This un
schooled negro . . . directly affects the
daily lives and actions of more individuals
in these United States than any other liv
ing person.” We can’t quite agree with
that statement, but there is no denying
the power of the man.
It is an absorbing story of a fascinating
character, and we recommend it to your
attention. Os late, Father Divine and his
enthusiastic followers have become more
and more prominent in the headlines. Mr.
Hoshor’s book will give you some inter
esting highlights on those black headlines.
The Book vO^n
By Joseph C. Keeley
From Abroad
WE COVER THE WORLD. By Sixteen
Foreign Correspondents, Edited by
Eugene Lyons. 441 pp. New York:
llnrrourl. Itrnre am Co. $3.
A magic carpet piloted by sixteen of
the world’s best known newspapermen is
“We Cover the World.” In it they take
the reader to every corner of the world
in which things are happening, and show
him the what, who, when, why, where and
how. In many cases the why and the how
are explained as they never were in the
dispatches of the correspondents—a case
in point being James A. Mills’ thoughts
concerning Queen Marie of Rumania.
To present an idea of the amount of ter
ritory covered by this book, following
are the correspondents who contributed:
James A. Mills, of the AP; Karl von Wie
gand, of Universal Servicer Frazier Hunt,
now with NEA; Linton Wells of INS;
Negley Farson, author of “Way of a
Transgressor”; Hallett Abend, of the New
York Times; Junius B. Wood, formerly
of the Chicago Daily News; William
Henry Chamberlin, of the Christian
Science Monitor; George Seldes; Mary
Knight, now with Literary Digest; Frank
H. Hedges, with the North American
Newspaper Alliance; Randall Gould, with
the Christian Science Monitor; Jack
Starr-Hunt, of the New York Herald-
Tribune; H. R. Ekins, the Scripps- How
ard reporter who made the first trip
around the world on commercial airlines;
Eugene Lyons, former UP correspondent
and author; and Webb Miller, chief of the
UP service in Europe.
There is no point in trying to describe
all that these international newshawks
tell about. Russia, Ethiopia, the Orient,
the Near East, Spain, the Balkans —these
and way stops are the scenes of the ac
tivities they describe. What they saw
there makes fascinating reading. An ob
vious advantage of the form in which the
book is written is that, besides being au
thoritative. it maintains interest because
of the different styles of wriing.
To those who are interested in what is
happening in the world today—and who
isn't? —this book will prove highly valu
able in showing what is happening behind
the scenes.
Want A Hobby ?
If you ever find yourself feeling list
less and losing interest in life generally,
don’t think you need a doctor or even a
psychiatrist. You will probably find a
remedy in “Hobbies for Everybody,” by
Ruth Lampland.
Although “Hobbies for Everybody” was
published in 1934, by Harper’s, it is still,
in our opinion, the finest book on hobbies
ever issued. It is complete, covering sub
jects from autographs and cartooning
to pottery, model-building and yachting.
In all. more than fifty different types of
hobbies are discussed, and a fu-ther guide
to each is presented in the form of a
bibliography concerning each just in
case you become interested.
If Miss Lampland had discussed each
hobby herself, telling of its good points,
the book undoubtedly would have been
worth reading. However, that was not
her procedure. Shrewdly, she persuaded
experts in those hobbies to describe them.
Now if there is anything more enthusi
astic than a confirmed hobbyist, I don’t
know what it is. And with more than
fifty hobbyists selling you on their en
thusiasms, the reader is soon faced with
the problem of diminishing sales resis
tance. Particularly when the hobbyists
are such eloquent advocates as Crosby
Gaige. Ellis Parker Butler, Eva Le Galli
enne, Tony Sarg, Ely Culbertson, Fannie
Hurst and Don Marquis. Mr. Marquis’
hobby, incidentally, is beans.
The sum total of their arguments is
that there’s still plenty of fun left in the
old world—if we just find ourselves a
hobby. If you’re interested, get yourself
a copy of “Hobbies for Everybody.” But
we warn you, before you’re finished you’ll
be collecting something or other, or going
in for sports or having fun in any one of
fifty-plus ways.
A NATION’S RISE
THE MIRACLE OF ENGLAND. By Andre
Maurois. 500 pp. New York: Harper
A Bros. $3.75.
One of the most fascinating books of
the year is this brilliant story telling of
the growth of England from an island
kingdom overrun by successive waves of
conquering hordes, to an empire compris
ing a third of the earth’s surface.
With his usual clarity and his genius
‘lf '
ANDRE MAUROIS
for organizing facts and disposing of the
superfluous, Andre Maurois has made
“The Miracle of England” more than a
history. He has peopled its pages with
Peggy Had A Manuscript
MM is.;
H. S. LATHAM BUckstons Stud,e
Can you imagine a detective story with
out a detective? That’s the case in “The
Borgia Blade,” just published by Apple
ton-Century. The mystery is solved by a
crook.
* * *
Simon & Schuster clarify a point con
cerning the best-seller, “The Outward
Room which they publish. The title,
they point out, comes from the lines of
John Donne:
“Think then, my soule, that death i»
but a Groome,
Which brings a Taper to the out
ward roome. . . .”
* * *
In a previous issue of this magazine we
referred to the book on marriage written
a number of years ago by Leon Blum,
who is now Premier of France. The vol
ume is said to contain statements that are
now embarrassing to M. Blum. American
rights for the book have been obtained by
the J B. Lippincott Co., and it will be
issued by them under the title “Marriage”
on June 30. * * *
Well up in the list of current best-sellers
human beings, and in doing so has made
the book a glowing, living narrative.
Fittingly, M. Maurois has gone back
into antiquity to trace the tangled racial
threads that make up the Englishman.
Stonehenge, with its evidences of Medi
terranean origin, is his starting point in
this, and from that beginning he brings
in, in their turn, Celts, Romans, Angles,
Jutes, Saxons, Germans, Danes and Nor
mans. The effect that each race had upon
the ultimate Englishman makes up the
first part of the book.
With this background the reader is pre
pared to understand what caused England
to become great. Providing a key to the
British character, it gives one a truer
insight into the reasons for the nation’s
development. Knowing the Briton, one
more readily understands why he cast off
feudalism more quickly than did most
other medievalists. The religious wars
are more understandable as well as the
growth of democracy, and all the other
elements that entered into Britain’s de
velopment into the most powerful empire
the world has ever known.
This, of course, provides merely the
“plot” of this absorbing story. Even more
fascinating, because of the magic of Andre
Maurois’ pen, is the cast. In this caval
cade can be found Caesar and his legions,
William the Conqueror, Queen Elizabeth
and the titans who surrounded her, Henry
VIII with his wives and church troubles,
Nelson, Wellington, Disraeli, Queen Vic
toria, King Edward VIII, and, bringing
up the rear. King George VI.
If you have been intending to look more
deeply into the subject of English history
some day, here is your chance to fulfill
your promise to yourself, and at the same
time secure a great deal of enjoyment.
“The Miracle of England” is one of the
important books of this or any year.
The discovery of “Gone With the
Wind” will go down in publishing history
as one of the most fortunate happenings
that ever befell a publishing house.
Whether it was a matter of luck or not,
is a debatable question.
H. S. Latham, vice president of Mac
millan’s, was traveling through the South
in 1935 to look up new authors. In
Atlanta he had dinner with two women
friends, and they discussed new writers.
Finally one of the women, a Mrs. Perker
son, timidly said: “Peggy has a manu
script.”
Mr. Latham expressed a polite interest
in it, and asked to see it. When it was
delivered to him he did more than give it
a mere courtesy reading, even though
that was the only thing necessary. But
it was just as well he did give it the
same careful attention he would have
given The manuscript of a big “name"
writer. As you have probably guessed, the
story was “Gone With the Wind” and
“Peggy” was Margaret Mitchell.
Footnotes
are two books reviewed on this page a feu
weeks ago—“ Boy in Blue,” by Roya
Brier, and “The Laurels Are Cut Down,'
by Archie Binns. We were correct in hail
ing them as potential best-sellers, even
though we did transpose the cuts of the
authors.
* * *
Ireene Wicker, known to radio listeners
as the Singing Lady, can well be consid
ered an authority on children’s books. It
is interesting, then, to learn that she con
siders the Mary Poppins books for chil
dren as among the finest juvenile stories
ever written.
* * *
What Ho!” by Richard Connell, pub
lished by Putnam, will be produced by
Paramount with Gary Cooper in the lead
ing role. The picture is supposed to be
ready for release in the Fall.
* * *
w T h « w Publishers of “Gone with the
Wind, Macmillan, are ready with a suc
cessor to be issued late in July. The name
of the book is “And So Victoria.” The
author is Vaughn Wilkins, it is said to
run to approximately a thousand pages,
and the setting is English. V *