The Twins of Skirlaugh Hall. By Emma Brooke. (Hurst and
Blackett. 6s.)—It is very seldom that the flesh of the hardened reviewer can be made to creep, but The Twins of Skirlaugh Hall is so eerie a story that, in one instance at any rate, it has achieved that unaccustomed result. The plot of the book concerns a re- incarnation, and it is so skilfully managed that the reader accepts the facts as quite possible, and fellows the fortunes of the two unhappy girls concerned with breathless interest. Although the Twins themselves are well drawn, the most remarkable character in the book is their mother. She is depicted as a fat, comfortable, and matronly person, with all the domestic virtues and no other special characteristics. The development of her character in the awful circumstances in which she finds herself is extremely well managed, and Mrs. Redeman's dumpy figure becomes invested with tragic dignity in the course of events. The story is inevit- ably sad as well as eerie, but the reader who once opens the book will find some difficulty in putting it down.
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