The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1957, Síða 44

42
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Summer 1957
Genetics Society of Canada at the
Society’s recent annual meeting at
Macdonald College, P.Q. At the meet-
ing, geneticists reported on such
diverse topics as male sterility in broc-
coli, premature adolescence in some
Ontario families, inheritance of serum
proteins in cattle and radiation effects
on chromosomes.
Dr. Arni Pall, a brother of Thomas
J., is Associate Head with Dr. H. L.
Seamans of the field crop insect in-
vestigation unit in the division of
Entomology in Ottawa.
Both brothers are Honors graduates
in Science from the University of Sas-
katchewan and both are holders of Ph.
D. degree.
BOOK REVIEWS
We Loved Them Once
by Ronda Rivers, p.p 135,
New York, Vantage Press.
Heaven In My Heart,
by Ronda Rivers, p.p. 160,
New York, Vantage Press.
These are love stories, written in
the romantic style much in vogue in
Iceland and elsewhere early in the
century. The characters are types
representing various shades of black
and white rather than individual
persons and the plot inevitably re-
counts the early trials and eventual
triumphs of the hero and heroine.
Much the better of the two books
is We Loved Them Once, which makes
up in charm and innocence what it
lacks in depth and characterization.
The language though at times stilted is
otherwise faultless and reflects a
sensitive and to all appearances an al-
together sincere personality. Heaven
In My Heart published two years later,
appears to be the earlier composition.
It has many of the beginner’s faults
and is further marred by being a much
too literal translation of a manuscript
originally written in Icelandic. The
locale is an Iceandic seaside village
and the heroine, Helga, an unbeliev-
ably pure and beautiful girl who has
to make a choice between her equally
virtuous childhood sweetheart and the
rich, spoiled and much travelled son
of the local grocer. Helga unfortunat-
ely never emerges as a human being—
she is just another Icelandic Blar'
Beauty.
The author, Solveig Sveinsson, who
writes under the pen name Ronda
Rivers, was born in Iceland and
brought up in a rural Manitoba settle-
ment. She returned to Iceland where
she was an actress and a writer of
books. Later she moved to the United
States, worked as a juvenile worker in
•Chicago and contributed short stories
and feature articles to American news-
papers. —H. Th.