I reported some time ago that I was reading through my collection of old English Penguin paperbacks, and I mentioned a couple. But maybe it is time for an old fashioned book review. Not like the ones that you fall asleep to in the New York Review of Books. Just a quickie or two or three.

The last book I read was “The Heat of the Day” by Elizabeth Owen. It was originally published in 1949, but was a World War II book. The year is 1943. Set primarily in London, the main character is Stella, a woman of about 40, living by herself, her husband having first divorced her and, second, died. She has one son, 17 serving in the army, stationed in England. She has had a boyfriend for the past two years, Robert. It seems that both Robert and Stella work for the government, but you don’t hear much about that. But you do hear about Harrison. Harrison is rather mysterious. He shows up at various times in Stella’s life and he often irritates her, but she keeps seeing him and talking with him. She knows little about him, doesn’t know where he works or where he lives.

One day, Harrison tells Stella that he is a British intelligence agent, that he believes Robert is passing on military secrets to the Germans, that she better not say anything to him, and that he needs her help to get enough evidence to arrest him. Robert is as English as they come, and of course Stella doesn’t believe this, particularly as it seems that Harrison has designs on Stella (which Stella for the most part rebuffs) and perhaps just wants Robert out of the way.

I won’t tell you how it ends, but this is the basic story line. There are, as you probably suspect, other story lines that waft through the book (a cousin of Stella’s dead husband also dies, and leaves a house and land in Ireland to her son; Robert’s mother and sister live in the big, old family house and don’t know if they should keep it or sell it; Harrison met another young woman at a Sunday park concert, who appears now and then), but all of these side stories could have been omitted in favor of the main one, and the book shortened from 320 pages.

It’s an interesting book, even if Bowen has a tendency to overwrite, and to be a bit too dense, and to use words that maybe I would know if I had lived in London in 1943, but which baffle me now (I should have made a note of them).

It isn’t a must read, but it is worth reading to find out what has happened to Robert and Harrison. And Stella.

A television film was made in 1990. Available on YouTube. I will probably watch it.

Before that, I read another novel, “Nightrunners of Bengal”, by John Masters. This is the second Penguin by Masters I have read. The first was called “The Lotus and the Wind”. I went into it with low expectations, but found it surprisingly enjoyable. Set in the 1880s in India, written in 1953, it tells the tale of a young British soldier who doesn’t like soldiering very much, but who is the son of a modern major general, who really likes fighting and all that goes with it. The young man is married, living in a military compound, hoping to get out of the army in one piece. But then he is asked to take an assignment, a dangerous assignment. To go into the hills of northern India, in disguise, and track down an elusive Russian spy. After a lot of hand wringing he agrees, hoping this way to prove something to his father.

It’s a long mission, and he has to leave his wife behind, and travel into very rough country, alone. His mission, described in interesting detail in the book, is successful. His sense of self esteem is raised, and he feels like he can now retire from the army filled with pride. Before he can do that, he is asked if he would take on another assignment – also a tracking down task, but longer and even more dangerous. Of course, he will turn it down. Or won’t he?

The second Masters book, written two years before “The Lotus and the Wind”, is called “Nghtrunners of Bengel”, again set in India, this time earlier, in the 1850s. A placid military camp south of Bombay, a ho-hum existence for the British soldiers and their families. Yes, occasional problems with the natives, but nothing that can’t be handled. A local rajah is killed – what will that mean? It looks like the rajah’s wife might be involved. She denies involvement, but believes she needs protection. She asks Rodney, a talented British officer to leave the army and work for her. He refuses. Life goes on, but one day (after a lot of rumors swept around), the British settlement is attacked, in the middle of the night, by armed Indan natives. It’s a slaughter. Rodney’s wife is among the many who are murdered. He doesn’t seem to mind (he didn’t cheer, but he also didn’t mourn), because he is already interested in Caroline, who also survived, as did Rodney’s young son. They escape, they hide, the enemy draws closer. What happens now?

I didn’t like this book as much as the first one. To be sure, some of the scenes were very exciting and very well written. But Rodney’s lack of grief over the many deaths, including his wife’s, and the awkward relationship he has with the totally inexperienced Caroline, lack credibility. If you want to try out Masters, go to the Lotus and avoid Bengal.

Finally, I read George Bernard Shaw’s “Caesar and Cleopatra”. Of course, reading a play and seeing a play are very different things. But reading this play was, for me, a bore. Young, stupid Cleopatra and smarmy Caesar just don’t seem to make sense in this one, either as a drama (the four scenes have little to do with each other) or a drama.

This is the 5th Shaw play I have read in my Penguin Quest. Need I saw that Pygmalion (the base on which My Fair Lady was built) was first class. So was The Doctor’s Dilemma, not only the play, but Shaw’s lengthy essay which accompanies it and tears apart the capability and sincerity of the medical profession, as well as the science behind it. The Devil’s Disciple was another disappointment. But Joan of Arc, which I assumed would be not to my liking, turned out to very clever, very well constructed and, I am sure, a delight to watch.