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CONTENTS:
Two English Thrillers
I have written before of the newspaper story of a reader who
maintained that she simply walked down the aisles of her local library
once a week and chose four books at random, from the shelves. She walked
through a different section of the library each week--fiction, biography,
history, it mattered not to her. She reported that she could only read
one book each week, but chose four so that she could discard the
"fizzers" and move on to the next one.
It was recently brought to my attention, in an introduction to a book
discussing the "western canon" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_canon,
the list of so-called classic books in western literature, that a person
cannot hope to read all the books she wants to, or feels that she ought
to read, in her lifetime. So, perhaps, the library aisle-walker has the
best approach to this problem of too many books and not enough time. At
least she does not waste time on "fizzers."
This months postings include "The Hole in the Wall" http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800561.txt
by Arthur Morrison http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Morrison
and "The Franchise Affair" http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800481.txt
by Josephine Tey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josephine_Tey.
I had not read either, and in browsing them both to see if they were
"fizzers", became interested enough to read them both. It is always a
pleasant surprise to find that there are so many books, of which one has
never heard, which are of such high quality. Where there is no one to
sing a book's praises, because it is not on a bestseller list or because
there is no money to be made, such a book must wait for readers to
stumble upon it by randomly choosing it from the library shelf, so to
speak.
Some readers will be aware that "The Hole in the Wall" was serialised by
BBC Television in England, with Nigel Rathborne playing one of the major
parts. Few, I venture to suggest, will have read the book. Following its
publication in 1902, V S Pritchett http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_S_Pritchett
described it as "one of the minor masterpieces of the century," although
the century was then not much advanced. Morrison is, at this time,
perhaps better known as a writer of detective fiction, having created the
detective Martin Hewett. However, in "The Hole in the Wall" he did indeed
create a minor masterpiece. This tale of murder, thievery, and general
villainy, brilliantly evokes the Dickensian squalor and evil of the East
End of London in the second half of the eighteenth century.
The story is told through the eyes of a nine year old boy who goes to
live with his grandfather in an old inn, situated beside the Thames. Many
of the events are only half understood by the boy but the reader is left
in no doubt about what is really going on as the tale moves seamlessly to
its violent conclusion.
"The Franchise Affair", published in 1948, is also set in England and is
also concerned with violence. However the setting and the period are very
much removed from those of "The Hole in the Wall." Two women, a mother
and daughter, living the quiet life in a country house, are accused of
kidnapping and beating a fifteen-year-old schoolgirl in order to get her
to do work for them. The charge is denied by the women and they engage a
local solicitor to act on their behalf. He becomes engrossed in the case
and it finally drives him to step outside of the ordered world of a
country solicitor.
Josephine Tey, who also wrote under the pseudonym of Gordon Daviot, was
baptised Elizabeth MacKintosh. A brief quote on the back of a paperback
edition of the book credits a reviewer with stating that it is "one of
the most intriguing detective stories ever written." That might be
drawing a long bow but there is no doubt that the book is superbly
crafted. As with Morrison's evocation of the East End, Tey's evocation of
the setting of her novel is superb and the twists and turns in the plot
are made entirely believable by Tey's ability to "lay the groundwork" for
each development well in advance of its occurrence.
Both of these novels are well worth a read. If you read one book a week,
you can have a break for a fortnight from walking down the virtual aisles
of the Project Gutenberg Australia library to choose four books at
random. What is more, both books are no further than a mouse-click
away.
Australian Short Story
THE BUCK-JUMPER
Saturday afternoon.
There were about a dozen Bush natives, from anywhere, most of them lanky
and easy-going, hanging about the little slab-and-bark hotel on the edge
of the scrub at Capertee Camp (a teamster's camp) when Cob & Co.'s
mail-coach and six came dashing down the siding from round Crown Ridge,
in all its glory, to the end of the twelve-mile stage. Some wiry,
ill-used hacks were hanging to the fence and to saplings about the place.
The fresh coach-horses stood ready in a stock-yard close to the shanty.
As the coach climbed the nearer bank of the creek at the foot of the
ridge, six of the Bushmen detached themselves from verandah posts, from
their heels, from the clay floor of the verandah and the rough slab wall
against which they'd been resting, and joined a group of four or five who
stood round one. He stood with his back to the corner post of the
stock-yard, his feet well braced out in front of him, and contemplated
the toes of his tight new 'lastic-side boots and whistled softly. He was
a clean-limbed, handsome fellow, with riding-cords, leggings, and a blue
sash; he was Graeco-Roman-nosed, blue-eyed, and his glossy, curly black
hair bunched up in front of the brim of a new cabbage-tree hat, set well
back on his head.
'Do it for a quid, Jack?' asked one.
'Damned if I will, Jim!' said the young man at the post. 'I'll do it for
a fiver--not a blanky sprat less.'
Jim took off his hat and 'shoved' it round, and 'bobs' were 'chucked'
into it. The result was about thirty shillings.
Jack glanced contemptuously into the crown of the hat.
'Not me!' he said, showing some emotion for the first time. 'D'yer think
I'm going to risk me blanky neck for your blanky amusement for thirty
blanky bob. I'll ride the blanky horse for a fiver, and I'll feel the
blanky quids in my pocket before I get on.'
Meanwhile the coach had dashed up to the door of the shanty. There were
about twenty passengers aboard--inside, on the box-seat, on the
tail-board, and hanging on to the roof--most of them Sydney men going up
to the Mudgee races. They got down and went inside with the driver for a
drink, while the stablemen changed horses. The Bushmen raised their
voices a little and argued.
One of the passengers was a big, stout, hearty man--a good-hearted,
sporting man and a racehorse-owner, according to his brands. He had a
round red face and a white cork hat. 'What's those chaps got on outside?'
he asked the publican.
'Oh, it's a bet they've got on about riding a horse,' replied the
publican. 'The flash-looking chap with the sash is Flash Jack, the
horse-breaker; and they reckon they've got the champion outlaw in the
district out there--that chestnut horse in the yard.'
The sporting man was interested at once, and went out and joined the
Bushmen.
'Well, chaps! what have you got on here?' he asked cheerily.
'Oh,' said Jim carelessly, 'it's only a bit of a bet about ridin' that
blanky chestnut in the corner of the yard there.' He indicated an
ungroomed chestnut horse, fenced off by a couple of long sapling poles in
a corner of the stock-yard. 'Flash Jack there--he reckons he's the
champion horse-breaker round here--Flash Jack reckons he can take it out
of that horse first try.'
'What's up with the horse?' inquired the big, red-faced man. 'It looks
quiet enough. Why, I'd ride it myself.'
'Would yer?' said Jim, who had hair that stood straight up, and an
innocent, inquiring expression. 'Looks quiet, does he? YOU ought to know
more about horses than to go by the looks of 'em. He's quiet enough just
now, when there's no one near him; but you should have been here an hour
ago. That horse has killed two men and put another chap's shoulder
out--besides breaking a cove's leg. It took six of us all the morning to
run him in and get the saddle on him; and now Flash Jack wants to back
out of it.'
'Euraliar!' remarked Flash Jack cheerfully. 'I said I'd ride that blanky
horse out of the yard for a fiver. I ain't goin' to risk my blanky neck
for nothing and only to amuse you blanks.'
'He said he'd ride the horse inside the yard for a quid,' said Jim.
'And get smashed against the rails!' said Flash Jack. 'I would be a fool.
I'd rather take my chance outside in the scrub--and it's rough country
round here.'
'Well, how much do you want?' asked the man in the mushroom hat.
'A fiver, I said,' replied Jack indifferently. 'And the blanky stuff in
my pocket before I get on the blanky horse.'
'Are you frightened of us running away without paying you?' inquired one
of the passengers who had gathered round.
'I'm frightened of the horse bolting with me without me being paid,' said
Flash Jack. 'I know that horse; he's got a mouth like iron. I might be at
the bottom of the cliff on Crown Ridge road in twenty minutes with my
head caved in, and then what chance for the quids?'
'You wouldn't want 'em then,' suggested a passenger. 'Or, say!--we'd
leave the fiver with the publican to bury you.'
Flash Jack ignored that passenger. He eyed his boots and softly whistled
a tune.
'All right!' said the man in the cork hat, putting his hand in his
pocket. 'I'll start with a quid; stump up, you chaps.'
The five pounds were got together.
'I'll lay a quid to half a quid he don't stick on ten minutes!' shouted
Jim to his mates as soon as he saw that the event was to come off. The
passengers also betted amongst themselves. Flash Jack, after putting the
money in his breeches-pocket, let down the rails and led the horse into
the middle of the yard.
'Quiet as an old cow!' snorted a passenger in disgust. 'I believe it's a
sell!'
'Wait a bit,' said Jim to the passenger, 'wait a bit and you'll see.'
They waited and saw.
Flash Jack leisurely mounted the horse, rode slowly out of the yard, and
trotted briskly round the corner of the shanty and into the scrub, which
swallowed him more completely than the sea might have done.
Most of the other Bushmen mounted their horses and followed Flash Jack to
a clearing in the scrub, at a safe distance from the shanty; then they
dismounted and hung on to saplings, or leaned against their horses, while
they laughed.
At the hotel there was just time for another drink. The driver climbed to
his seat and shouted, 'All aboard!' in his usual tone. The passengers
climbed to their places, thinking hard. A mile or so along the road the
man with the cork hat remarked, with much truth--
'Those blanky Bushmen have got too much time to think.'
The Bushmen returned to the shanty as soon as the coach was out of sight,
and proceeded to 'knock down' the fiver.
THE END
From "Joe Wilson and his Mates"
by Henry Lawson
http://gutenberg.net.au/pgaus.html#lawson
Quotable Quotes
I rejoice that there are owls. Let them do the idiotic and maniacal
hooting for men. It is a sound admirably suited to swamps and twilight
woods which no day illustrates, suggesting a vast and undeveloped nature
which men have not recognized. They represent the stark twilight and
unsatisfied thoughts which all have. All day the sun has shone on the
surface of some savage swamp, where the single spruce stands hung with
usnea lichens, and small hawks circulate above, and the chickadee lisps
amid the evergreens, and the partridge and rabbit skulk beneath; but now
a more dismal and fitting day dawns, and a different race of creatures
awakes to express the meaning of Nature there.
From "Walden" by Henry David Thoreau
http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext95/waldn10.txt
A list of all the books we provide is available from http://gutenberg.net.au/plusfifty.html
Check there to see if there are other works by the authors listed
below
-- JUNE POSTINGS -- Jun 2008 Perris of the Cherry-trees, J S Fletcher [080063xx.xxx] 1645A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800631.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Clue of the Silver Key, Edgar Wallace [080062xx.xxx] 1644A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800621.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800621h.html Jun 2008 Boomerang, Helen Simpson [080061xx.xxx] 1643A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800611.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800611h.html Jun 2008 Won by Crime, Frank Pinkerton [080060xx.xxx] 1642A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800601.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Autobiography of Cockney Tom, Thomas Bastard [080059xx.xxx] 1641A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800591.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800591h.html Jun 2008 The Flying Yorkshireman, Eric Knight [080058xx.xxx] 1640A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800581.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800581h.html Jun 2008 Easy to Kill, Hulbert Footner [080057xx.xxx] 1639A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800571.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Hole in the Wall, Arthur Morrison [080056xx.xxx] 1638A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800561.txt or .zip Jun 2008 To Love and Be Wise, Josephine Tey [080055xx.xxx] 1637A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800551.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Privateer, Gordon Daviot [080054xx.xxx] 1636A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800541.txt or .zip Jun 2008 Jim Maitland, Sapper [080053xx.xxx] 1635A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800531.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800531h.html Jun 2008 When Carruthers Laughed, Sapper [080052xx.xxx] 1634A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800521.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800521h.html Jun 2008 The Female of the Species, Sapper [080051xx.xxx] 1633A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800511.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800511h.html Jun 2008 The Black Gang, Sapper [080050xx.xxx] 1632A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800501.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800501h.html Jun 2008 Three Came to Ville Marie, Allan Sullivan [080049xx.xxx] 1631A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800491.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Franchise Affair, Josephine Tey [080048xx.xxx] 1630A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800481.txt or .zip Jun 2008 Brat Farrar, Josephine Tey [080047xx.xxx] 1629A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800471.txt or .zip Jun 2008 Sinfully Rich, Hulbert Footner [080046xx.xxx] 1628A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800461.txt or .zip Jun 2008 It Needs to be Said, Frederick Philip Grove [080045xx.xxx] 1627A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800451.txt or .zip Jun 2008 The Final Count, Sapper [080044xx.xxx] 1626A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800441.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800441h.html Jun 2008 Bulldog Drummond, Sapper [080043xx.xxx] 1625A http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800431.txt or .zip http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks08/0800431h.html
Newsletter Editor: Colin Choat.
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