10 OCTOBER 1885, Page 23

The Wine of Life. By J. Newcome. (Remington and Co.)—This

is a little story which has no particular plot and no very profound study of character, and yet is readable. If it has no particular merit, it gives no offence; and its descriptions of country life, tinged with a little of the rosy light of love, are sufficiently pleasant. The scene of the tale is chiefly laid in Wales ; but we are also taken for a change to Switzerland, where the writer describes, we should imagine from personal experience, the discomfort of being snow-bound in a moan. tam n village. Altogether the book has a certain freshness about it ; but if the author would make a serious effort in fiction, a good deal more will be required.