12 JANUARY 1895, Page 23

.r/ Mal Occhio. By G. S. Godkin. (Swan Sonnensehein and

Co.)—This story of the "Evil Eye," a title which the book would have had, we suppose, had it not been anticipated, takes us back to the seventeenth century, and to the religious troubles of Italy at that time. The young heroine has a stormy time of it. Those were the days when men and women who ventured to think for themselves had trouble in the flesh. How she battled through it, and reached such happiness as was possible in times so troubled, is told by Miss Godkin with much force. There is no little fighting, where hard blows are given and received, and the heroine justifies her title. The subject is not exactly what best suits fiction ; but It Mal Occhio is a tale of considerable merit.