31 JANUARY 1931, Page 27

THE GENTLE LIBERTINE. By Colette. (Gollancz. 7s. 6d.)—The delicate art

of Colette finds adequate expression in this story of the girl Minnie, whose ambition it is to become Queen Minnie, Queen of the Paris apaches. In adolescence, Minnie lives in a fantasy world of her own, but as " the Gentle Libertine "'matures, she seeks her happiness in the fullest expression of her love. Married to her cousin, a marriage de conversance, she experiments emotionally with a series of lovers to find, in the end, her greatest happiness in her love for her husband. Although The Gentle Libertine is not such an original story as Chen, neither is it so perfect a work of art as Mitson. The theme suits Colette's fresh and unlaboured touch.