21 JULY 1877, Page 21

The Fran Domina. From the German of Claire von Gliimer.

(Bos- ton, United States, Lockwood and Brooke.)—It would have been no groat loss to the English-reading public if this novel had been left in its native language. It is a very dismal story, not at all of the kind which suits the taste of readers in this country. A certain Aunt Elvira Is one of the most important personages in it. She throws over her engaged lover to marry a certain Herr von Mulch, drives her husband wild with jealousy of his step-sons, wins the heart of her first lover, by that time married to her sister ; brings about a duel between this man and her husband ; makes her way into his room when ho is sup- posed to be dying, declares her love for him, and deserts him again the next moment, when her husband appears on the scene. This is, perhaps, an unfavourable specimen of the book, Int it is not pleasant or whole- some anywhere.