20 OCTOBER 1900, Page 22

A Japanese Maiden. By Annie M. Piercy. (Horace Marshall and

Son. 6d. net.)—This is a little Japanese love story, perfectly simple and natural, full of little touches of Japanese life and manners, and not without a gently suggested moral. Kikn, the heroine, runs away from an unwelcome marriage,—an English- man has asked for her hand in marriage, and she loves a Japanese. Everything ends well, for the Englishman is a gentle- man, and recognises that the Japanese way of arranging marriage is not a right one (though, by the way, it prevails in every country but England) ; Kiku is happy, and finally becomes a Christian.