26 NOVEMBER 1892, Page 26

Adrift in a Great City. By M. E. Winchester. (Seeley

and Co.) —Miss Winchester always writes well, but she writes at too great a length. Here we have more than a hundred and sixty pages before we get near the gist of the story. It is only on p. 185 that the little hero is actually "adrift in a great city." True, circum- stances have been leading up to this catastrophe, and the writer has managed them sufficiently well ; but the preface is too long. In medias res is a maxim which writers of tales, as well as poets, should bear in mind. When he is once "adrift," the hero ceases to interest us much. It is unnecessary to inquire too particularly into the probabilities of the plot. The story is readable, and the

descriptions of city life are effective,—it might even be said, too effective.