(4 of 4)
AUNT POLLY'S STORY OF MANKIND— Donald Ogden Stewart—Doran ($2.00). Rather more than a parody on the various popular descriptions of recent date that deal with man's rise from protoplasm to the glorious estate of sack-suited citizenry—a satire, often bitingly savage, on Man in general and civilized Man in particular. Mr. Stewart's keen little knife slits many accepted shams. His characteristic humor is admirably present. Indeed his description of the attempted revivification of the Siege of Troy by a group of infant bandits could hardly be bettered, and his parody of The Married Life of Helen and Warren is gloriously funny. But the book, as a whole, is rather more in the vein of Swift than of, say, Leacock. Recommended to all who like salt in their humor.
Jo ELLEN—Alexander Black—Harper ($2.00). The history of Jo Ellen Rewer, red-headed modern tomboy, her odd environment, her growth, her adventures in business and love. She is forced to choose between a gentlemanly ex-crook (who reforms according to schedule) or a "safe," ineffably serious young man whom she has known all her life. The safe young man's limp supposedly contracted in the War, swings the balance. She marries him. He is paralyzed on their wedding day. Jo Ellen has to go back to work to help support him. He grows peevish and madly jealous. They have to live with his family and his mother hates Jo Ellen. After great todo, the tangle is solved at last by his nobly rolling his wheelchair off the roof. Fade-out.
MICHAEL'S EVIL DEEDS—E. Phillips Oppenheim—Little Brown ($2.00). This chronicle of the pursuit of an uncannily elusive and merciless Napoleon of Crime by Sir Norman Greyes of the Yard, is the beet Oppenheim thriller for some years. The story is told from three angles—the criminal's, the detective's, that of the girl whom both, in their several ways, adore. The blood-chase and the love-chase will furnish a breathless and satisfactory evening for any devotee of pistol-shots and false whiskers.
DECLASEE AND OTHER PLAYS—Zoe Akins—Boni ($2.00). Three plays by one of the most promising of modern American playrights—Declasee, Daddy's Gone aHunting, Greatness (produced as The Texas Nightingale). Her wit, technique and courage to attempt the unusual have earned the praise of many rather diverse critics—including Alexander Woollcott and George Jean Nathan.
*The HIGH PLACE.—James Branch Cabell —McBride ($2.50). —Young Felix was reviewed in TIME Nov. 19.