THE MOB. By Vicente Blasco Ibaiiez. (Butterworth. is. 6d.)—This latest
novel by the author of The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse follows in leisurely fashion the development of a Spanish youth, Isidro Maltrana. Born into poverty and trained at an orphanage, he enjoys a brief experience of University life ; but, on the sudden death of a benefactress, he is plunged with " the mob" into the struggle for existence. He secures a precarious job as a journalist ; but he is too ardent a reader and dreamer, at once too revolutionary at heart and too weak-willed, to succeed in a rough-and-tumble world. He drifts from adventure to adventure, and the One bright interlude in his career is his brief married happiness with the daughter of a poacher. Felicia= dies, however, in childbirth ; and the story closes with Isidro's determination to throw away all dreams and to fight, tooth and nail, for the future welfare of his boy. If social equality cannot be established on earth, then his son shall be among the privileged class. Marriage brings -Isidro a fleeting joy ; but parenthood at last inspires him with purpose and resolution. The Mob is written with great sincerity, power, and eloquence ; and it abounds in vivid glimpses of the Madrid underworld.
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