25 DECEMBER 1886, Page 23

The Queen of the Family. By Mrs. Horrisbrook. (Nisbet and

Co.) — Here is another of the religiously-minded love-stories which make one of the specialities of the season. One cannot help wondering for whom they are intended. Boys do not care about them, and girls are surely better without them. " Wyvil " is not an uninteresting heroine, but she is a little absurd when she refuses her lover because he saw her lay her horsewhip across the face of a young fellow who had hurt her blind brother.