29 JUNE 1929, Page 32

THE. KING'S CANDLE. By Temple Thurston. (Putnam. 7s. 6d.)—Mr. Thurston,

who is apt to be too discursive in his novels, handles the short story very successfully. In these thirteen tales he gives us a considerable variety: of theme and treatment ; but he is happiest *hen, as in A Present for the Wife," " The Stranger," or " How I Lost the Love of Lavender Leach," he combines comedy with fantasy against a background of realism. "The Threshold " is a penetrating little excursion, in allegorical form, into feminine psychology ; while A Thing in Itself," describing a blind writer's passionate love for the plain woman secretary who brings him spiritual and intellectual understanding, is an excellent commentary on the idea that beauty is more than skin deep. This is a very readable book, at once whimsical and virile.