The Mother of All Living. By Robert Keable. (Constable. 7s.
6d. net.)—The chief interest of this volume is not Mr. Keable's exposition of feminine psychology, but his descriptions of South African scenery. He contrives to make his reader see Cecil Eldred's South African home through her eyes when she lands fresh from several years of school in England. Later in the book the description of the great trek undertaken by Pamela Urfurd and her cousin, Chris Ashurst, gives a better idea than many more serious works of the conditions of travel on the Drakens- burg. In fact, the problems of the book, which arc chiefly concerned with what a modern woman is to do when she finds she has married the wrong man, will be rather a source of irrita- tion to the reader, as they will interrupt the descriptions of the country in which he will have begun to be extremely interested. The author's descriptions of the bushmen's cave drawings and of the figure resembling Anubis are particularly curious. Pam's attempted seduction of Chris, so as to free Cecil from his influence, may be true to life, but is not very edifying to read. Neither is Cecil's redemption from her passion .throngh the deliberate adoption of motherhood quite convincing. The book, however, should be read by anyone interested in the Overseas Empire for its elucidation of the problems of a white man's life in the country with which it deals.
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