19 SEPTEMBER 1908, Page 24

The Surprising Husband. By Richard Marsh. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—Mr.

Marsh's physiology may be open to question, but at any rate he works out the necessary consequences of his premisses with great ability. The story is concerned with the problem of race, and the hero is technically a negro, having a black grandmother. As the unfortunate man had turned white about his tenth year (this is the postulate which the reader will find it difficult to accept), and has no idea of any taint in his blood, the situation when his wife's first child is born black is distressing in the extreme. Readers who like following out a problem such as this will find Mr. Marsh's book distinctly exciting. Agreeable reading it cannot be, and is not intended to be.