The Playmate. By Charles Turley. Illustrated by H. R. Millar.
(W. Heinemann. 5s.)—There is no need to introduce the author of "Godfrey Marten" and "Maitland Major and Minor " to the readers of the Spectator. His new book, though it carries his study of ingenuous youth one stage further back, and to that extent breaks new ground, differs in degree rather than in kind from his earlier ventures. There is the same kindly humour, the same intimate appreciation of the boyish stand- point, the same easy, unaffected style. If Mr. Turley had wished to give his book a sub-title, ho might have called it "Tales of a Godfather." The narrator is a genial bachelor of thirty-four living in the country, who is iu such request in this capacity that he is prompted to form a club, according to his own definition, "for enjoying ourselves. We shall play cricket, and live out of doors, and take excursions, and go on the trail, and that sort of thing." The adventures of this unconventional club are set forth in a series of episodes which, while primarily appealing to youthful readers, will reopen to many persons of middle age the path that leads back to the lost paradise of childhood.
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