29 JANUARY 1898, Page 11

A Princess of Islam. By I. W. Sherer. (Swan Sonnenschein

and Co.)—This book, says the author, "was designed to be chiefly the study of a single female character." This one character is the niece of an Indian Nawab, whom her uncle, a Mahoramedan, but very lax in his faith, causes to be married to the young Englishman who acts as his Prime Minister. The woman is a strict follower of Islam, and the story gives a picture of how her belief, working together with the hereditary tendencies of her race, and her own strong personal emotions, influence her life and the lives of those who are connected with her. This is a very dull and prosaic way of stating a powerful situation, which Mr. Sherer, helped by an intimate knowledge of Eastern life and thought, works out with much skill. But we do not wish in any way to spoil the interest of his story, for d Princess of Islam is a good story as well as a fine study of character. We have seldom reed anything of its kind better, or even so good. We commend it in the warmest way to our readers.