19 NOVEMBER 1927, Page 30

THE MOONLADY. By Upton Close. (Putnam. S2.00.)— This novel, the

scene of which is -laid in Peking, with its modern political unrest, is at once exciting and beautiful. Helen Langdon, the daughter of a British official, falls in love with Barrie Weston, a young American journalist. Barrie, however, simultaneously becomes infatuated with a Chinese girl actress, whom he saves from death after a riot of patriotic students. The conflict between Helen and her Chinese rival, with her subtle, pure, and finally self-denying devotion, forms the main thread of interest. But, skilfully dovetailed into the plot, there are excellent pictures of Chinese life ; while the differences in Western and Eastern psychology are well suggested.