Women are Strange, and Other Stories. By F. W. Robinson.
(Chatto and Windus.)—Mr. Robinson tells his stories like the veteran novelist he is. They are all interesting in a comfortable, not over absorbing way, though they take us into queer places and among queer people. It is not very clear why the first story should be- entitled, " Women are Strange," for in reality the men it introduces us to are quite as strange as the women. It deals chiefly with theatrical personages and matters, and the author scarcely seems so- much at home among them as among the City clerks, river-side watch- men, waiters, and wandering musicians, who tell the other stories. It is probably very difficult to make a music-hall waiter tell a tragical story without putting into his mouth language too correct to be quite- natural, but we think the attempt might be made with more suc- cess than it is in the case of the head waiter at the Apollo. On the- other hand, there is a narrative by a merchant's clerk of the worst type which seems to be very true to life, in the vulgar self-assertion and petty dishonesty the teller is made to show in every sentence. As these tales are, of course, merely reprints, they have probably already reached most of the readers for whom they were intended— we fancy Mr. Robinson's audience is largely American—and it is scarcely necessary now to speak of them in detail.
Previous page
