15 SEPTEMBER 1928, Page 28

THE JUDAS TREE. By Ahney St. John Adcock._ (Hodder and

Stoughton. 7s. 6d.)—Miss Adcock, in her series of Buckinghamshire novels, may be modelling herself a little too closely, both in matter and manner, upon Thomas Hardy. Yet she has fine and individual gifts, and here again, in this story centring around a village girl who is at once the victim of circumstance and a slave to her own vanity, the peasant characters are drawn with vigour and truth. Strong realism is well tempered by restraint and livened with humour, while the scene background is sketched in with delicate charm.