European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1948, Darmstadt, Hesse Books two. Diverse novels on the sub Tribiana of two nations the outer edges by Charles Jack son. 240 up. Rinehart new York. �2.75. In his newest novel or. Jackson of the lost weekend which dealt with alcoholism and the fall Ovalor concerning homosexual is has taken up the brutal sadistic murder of two Small children. Instead of analysing the motivations of his killer . Jackson has reversed the usual procedure and shows the effect which the crime has upon the minds of a group of people All in some Way connected wit the event. Briefly his premise is that there exists within each person the killer in greater or lesser degree. The Man who kills is not a creature apart motivated by emotions which the nor Mal individual does not undergo. In Stead he is a Man who puts into action thoughts and compulsions which have haunted Many a Man even if Only sub consciously. The trouble is that to make his Point or. Jackson has chosen improbable or at ,.any rate abnormal characters. The murderer himself a Vil Lage idiot who when asked his Las wish replies id like to bomb a City is More suited to an Asylum than to Aprison. As to the other characters unhappily married suburbanites Jade literary lights sex starved youths and vicious tenement kids they Are All to far on the Way to neurosis already to be taken As representative of the Normal individual. If anything or. Jackson tends to refute his argument by their very presence. The foolish gentlewoman. By Margery Sharp. 330 up. Little Brown Boston. S3.this is Margery Sharp Back to her ironic Strain after her last serious novel,."britannia news and if the tone is slightly subdued for miss Sharp it is still a Bright amusing tale. Isabel Brocken is a Nice foolish old lady who supports in her big comfortable Villa in the suburbs of London a Young girl who acts As companion a Veteran Nephew a housekeeper and her 14-year-Olddaughter, and old Simon Brocken a brother in Law. The Nephew and com Panion Are weaving the threads of a romantic attachment the housekeeper and daughter did their Best to make the English food rations stretch to the meals and old Simon was pleased to keep a careful Eye on Isabel and he Fortune. Small wonder then that this Harmony was thrown into discord a Hena sixth member joined the household with mrs. Brocken s uncompromising announcement that Here was the heir to her Fortune. Tilly guff May be just cantankerous old woman a poor relation from out of her past but mrs. Brocken once did her wrong and now she Points out nothing will do but she must make amends. Years and years ago she May have disliked Tilly cuff sufficiently to intercept a marriage proposal meant for. Her but now she loves her with a gentle passion and no one. Can talk her out of it. How the various members of the household including miss Tilly cuff get their just desserts during the skirmishes which follow is Worth read ing to find. Out. I noted in passing All things considered. By How Ard Vincent o Brien. 345 up. Bobbs Merrill Indianapolis. $3.50.in this autobiography the late Howard Vincent o Brien of the Chicago daily news relates some of his personal experiences and recollections. The columnist Well beloved in. Chicago not Only by those with whom he worked but also by his competitors had become almost a Chicago legend before he die last year. The Book is filled with Amus ing anecdotes about the author his friends and the newspaper business. It s All in the family. By mar Garet Millar. 243 up. Random House new York. �2.50.here is a Gay exhilarating narrative about an 11-year-old girl and her terrifying imagination which sweeps the Reader through one weekend of her lifers though it were a Complete lifetime chronicle. Priscilla has her very own world built up within her mind a world apart from grandpas fathers Moth weekend june 12, 1948 ers brother a and sister s. Much of Chebook is what she thinks of these Mem Bers of the family and it is noisily funny especially the reflections on her Nasty Little sister. Becky. Priscilla s biggest dream is to smoke drink Coffee and say of my g0 a on her Twenty first birthday. Strange ports of Call. Selected by August Derleth. 390 up. Pellegrini & Cudahy new York. �3.75.a selection of 20 Short stories denied by their collector As science fiction strange ports of Call is splendid read ing for those who Don t scare too some of the stories Are grim and some Are ghastly but All of them Are gripping fare. Among contributors Are h. G. Wells whose the Crystal egg is included Theodore Sturgeon who has a Stark Story called Thunder ,1 David Keller with a terrify ing episode called the worm another such no Ted writers As Philip Wylie h. P. Lovecraft and Nelson Bond. Reporter in route Zanzibar an easter Ham off the african coast mostly murder i want to go Home. By Richard and Frances Lockridge. 249 up. Lip Pincott Philadelphia. �150.someone evidently does t want Jane Phillips to. Visit her great aunt Susan because Between her journey from new York to great aunt s Home in Losangeles practically everything happens to her which logically should preventer from getting there. It does t quite which is Why she turns up to Fin great aunt Susan dead of Poison the House full of unpleasant relatives an surrounded by police. So deadly fair. By Gertrude Walker. 250 up. Putnam s York. $2,50. Story set in seamy surroundings about a depraved woman who murdered he husband and got a boy Friend in trouble. Then she went from bad to worse an ended up Well the boy Friend s Iell Irig the Story Zanzibar a this is the fabled exotic City Andi Island of Zanzibar the most fascinating place in East Africa ruled Bya Sultan but formally a British protectorate. It is the most Oriental of african cities. V Zanzibar lies White and sparkling inthe distance As one approaches it. The course is dangerous because of Cora reefs but the approach to Zanzibar it self is magnificent. The water is a iridescent Blue Green. Coral islands covered with Green foliage stand Justoff the Harbor. Ashore minarets jut above the arabic architecture which dominates the City. The Quick Tropic night Falls before we Are Able to get ashore. A native. Guide has come aboard ship loaded with references from previous visitors. To is very dark skinned an old Man with a solemn dignified wears the Kansu. Or Long flowing White tunic that is the Mark of the arabs or swahili As the natives Are called. He wears White sneakers and a battered but clean White guides us ashore and into the City. The first thing that strikes us is. The. Pungent Aroma about the Dock Sheds. These Are loaded with cloves the chief Export of the Island which grows More cloves than All the rest of the world put together. It smells like easter sunday and Ham baking in the mysterious Clove tree Blig lil has recently made an appearance on the Island and threatens to wipe out the Industry unless it is stopped. Some head Way is being made in checking the spread of the disease and local scientists Hope to discover i Means of combating it. Apparently i fungus the blight strikes suddenly and kills the tree within few months. We walk past the Sultan s Palace where red fuzzed. Smart Shkari native soldiers Are of guard. A few Hundred Yards beyond we turn into the City it self. Here streets Are no More than ten feet vide and All the shop s Are seemingly closed. Suddenly a news has get about that an Amer ican ship is in port and Well heeled prospective american customers have come ashore. Shutters come Down from building fronts with alacrity and Indian Mer chants eagerly display their Ware brass work from India Amber from the Balkans and Arabia Jade from Chin and rugs from Persia even pearls from Ceylon and the persian Gulf. The firs Price is never accepted. It is merely a starting Point for intricate and complicated bargaining which May go on for hours Over a trivial sum. We have Only a few hours the next morning before we sail for. Tanga but we hurry ashore again to see Zanzibar by Daylight. Now the White stucco buildings shimmer in the Brilliant tiny streets swarm with arabs hindus and swahili. The arabs Are usually bearded and Wear the Kansu. Women Are shrouded in Black garments and their faces Revei Edathe indians usually Wear Long White trousers and a White Coa preach ing to their Knees. The Indian Wom a Are veiled if they Are Mohammedan an unveiled if they Are. Hindu. Starting with Little girls of not More than three or four All the women have their ears pierced and Wear earrings. In the nose even of babies is a Gem or a piece of Gold. Some Are tattooed on the of the older and More dignified Oman arabs Wear Beautiful twisted daggers with elaborate heavy Silver Heads and cases. Zanzibar is an important Center of Trade because it is a focal Point for the sailing vessels called drops which comedown from the arabian and persian gulfs loaded with merchandise when the prevailing winds Are right. Zanzibar is an ancient City an probably was visited by the phoenicians in the Era before Christ. Its principal importance now is As a source of cloves and copra and As a trading Center. It was the Point from which Stanley organized his expedition to find Livingstone As Well As the base for his later expeditions into Africa seventy and sixty years ago. Its population iss mixture of arabs africans and indians reflecting the various races that have dominated Zanzibar through the Ages. Presently although Zanzibar is Nomi Nally under tic Rule of a Sultan real control is in the resident British com missioner. The Sultan 68, is a member of the ancient ruling family of the Island the House of Muscat. Although the arabs Are a minority Only 35,000 out Ofa population of 250,000they dominate the Island s life. At one time they dominated a Good Deal More than the Island their Domain spreading up and Dow the african coast. The sultanate was gradually whittled Down first by por Tugal and then successively by Brit Ain Germany and Italy until now i comprises Only the Island of Zanzibar proper and the neighbouring Island of Pemba plus a tiny strip on the main land not More than five Miles deep at any Point and about ten Miles Long. One interesting Point in Zanzibar history is that the present Sultan lives in the Palace formerly occupied by his Grandfather s harem. The old Palace called the Betel Ajaib or House of wonder was damaged by a British bombardment in 1896, when the presen Sultan s great great Uncle tried to swipe the throne. He was ousted and replaced by the legitimate heir and since then no one has challenged the present Rul ing House. James Powers 19
