18 APRIL 1903, Page 23

The Eternal Woman. By Dorothea Gerard. (Hutchinson and Co. 6s.)—This

is the story of a young woman entirely destitute of means, who on first going out as a governess determines to model her conduct on that of Miss Rebecca Sharp, and prove the truth of Thackeray's dictum that "a woman may marry whom she pleases." That Clara Wood, the young lady in question, does not come to a violent shipwreck is because Nature did not in the least intend her for an adventuress, so that she is always doing things quite outside her role. In the end she falls in love with the man whom she has schemed to marry, and is, naturally enough, attacked by conscientious scruples as to accept- ing his proposals. The book ends well, and without being par- ticularly remarkable it is quite readable.