The Island. By Eleanor Mordaunt. Heinemann. 6s.)—This is a volume
of powerful short stories concerned, with the island of Mauritius. The world is distinctly seen, en noir in most of them, and the problems of life are not simplified by the occasional introduction of the colour question. "Sour Grapes," for instance, is a story in which this question plays a tragic part, and great will be the diversity of opinion on the morality of the heroine's action at the end. But, although no one's spirits will be raised by the book, it will be impossible for the reader to regard the stories with indifference. They are worked out with much dramatic power, and the author has a knack of presenting a lightning sketch of her characters in such a way that they assume the aspect of living men and women. The longest story, and perhaps the best, though certainly the most horrible, is the one which is put first.
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