POOR WOMEN ! By Norah Hoult. (Scholartis Press. 7s. 6d.)—All
the women in these short stories are worried about their ages, except the little Irish servant, Bridget, who is worried about something rather more serious. Miss Jocelyn is too old to work and must live with charitable relatives. The experienced Ethel and the inexperienced Alice are only in the thirties, but Man, which to them means Life, slips through their fingers just as the one gives a confident and the other a despairing snatch. The monotony of the theme is no doubt intentional and it carries a persuasive force. Miss Hoult is so quietly insistent and sincere, one believes presently that this is the truth about the lives of women ; but inevitably, the more one is persuaded the less acutely one is interested. The fields Miss Hoult gleans have been rather thoroughly gleaned already—Mrs. Johnson especially is trite —but her keen and careful eye discovers a surprising amount to preserve. She possesses real ability in characterization, and she remembers and uses the material world with a talent not far below that of Katherine Mansfield. But in two respects she fails in her conscious or unconscious discipleship : her style lacks incisiveness and magic brevity ; and it lacks also Katherine Mansfield's relish for lovely and delightful things.
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