23 JULY 1921, Page 23

Pagan Fire. By Norval Richardson. (Nash. 8s. 6d. net.)— This

novel deals with the appointment of an American Ambassa- dor to Rome on political grounds, and is chiefly occupied with the effect of Rome on his romantic wife, to please whom, it may be said, the appointment was made. The book is interesting as dealing with the feelings of an artistic dweller in a new country when plunged into the society and entourage of the city of Rome. The heroine, Anne Rumen, makes a great success of her position as American Ambassadress, and the reader will be distinctly disappointed when the interesting study of her personality is interrupted by a violent love affair with a Roman prince. In the end Anne is carried back to Washington by American friends without her husband discovering the truth about her intrigue.