The Corner - Stone. By David Lyall. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)—For the
second time within the last few months we are called on to notice a novel dealing with the effect of a family house "in the old country" on newly returned Australians. In this book an element of mystery is provided by the corner-stone of the house, which has a habit of working loose in its bed of mortar when misfortune is about to overtake the family. In the particular case which loosens it in the story, the impending mis- fortune appears to be the public discovery of the sins of the head of the house, for when the man he has injured decides not to expose him, the corner-stone settles down again quite happily. The heroine, Charlotte, would be a charming person if she had not a tiresome trick of alluding to herself, not in the first person singular, but by her own Christian name. This habit, though gracefully inevitable at two years old, is exasperating to read of in a heroine of the usual age. The book is readable, but not in any way abovo the average.
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