3 APRIL 1897, Page 23

An Australian Duchess. By Amyot Sagon. (Hurst and Blackett.)—The plot

of this book is simple and conventional, but the story itself is eminently wholesome. A young English aristocrat seeking his fortune in Australia meets with an accident which might have been fatal, and falls in love with his pretty nurse. He marries her though he is the heir to a dukedom and she is the daughter of a convict who has killed the seducer of his sister. They get married and are happy ever afterwards, in spite of a " scandal " about jewel-stealing. They do good to others, even to a connection by marriage, who is a dipsomaniac and a thief. This and good descriptions of Australian life and scenery make up An Australian Duchess, which runs very prettily. The two married lovers, Riversdale and Lola, are admirable portraits.