16 JANUARY 1926, Page 32

Bread of De zeit. By Mrs. Belloc Lowndes. (Hutchinson. 7s.

ed. net.)—Mrs. Belloc Lowndes seems to have hesitated between making her story a melodrama or a tragi-comedy of manners, with the result that neither has quite come off. The thrills are there and the wit, but the plot is weak in the joints and not all the characters are convincing. Our " bright young people " are not mere naughty Victorians ; they have a psychology of their own and are not as foolish as they pretend to be. Needless to say, however, the story is told with spirit and is very readable.