Audrey's Awakening. By E. L. Haverfield. (H. Frowde and Hodder
and Stoughton. 3s. 6d.)—Miss Haverfield has
given us in her new book a variation on the theme of step- relationships. For it is with no prejudice against them that Audrey returns from school to meet her new stepfather and stepbrother. The manner in which friction arises is well worked out, and given the characters of Audrey and her brother, such friction was practically inevitable. All ends well, however, and Paul, the stepbrother, is particularly well drawn. We may perhaps be permitted to wonder that such a charming person as Mrs. Forbes should have such unattractive children as Audrey and Lionel, and to speculate unfavourably on
the disposition of her first husband, or the effect of this world's goods on children's characters.—Certainly the heroine of The.
Nicest Girl in the School, by Angela Brazil (Blackie and Son,
2s. 6e.), ran no risk of being spoilt in this manner. The eldest child in the family of a struggling doctor, Patty Hirst has been brought up in a good school for the eradication of self.
And when a rich uncle sends her to Morton Priory she reaps the benefit of such a training. The narrative of her school life is well and briskly told, and we feel sure that all girl readers will unite with her schoolmates in thinking that Patty well deserves the prize for unselfishness and high endeavour which falls to her in the last
chapter.—Uncle Hilary's Nieces, by C. G. Whyte (H. Frowde and
Hodder and Stoughton, 68.), is another story of a large family. We have to follow the fortunes of three nieces, and then there is Enid Tancley, who is not a niece at all. Indeed, the tale chiefly turns round Enid, and how her advent into the family circle of the Frenshams affects the various members. Their adventures and trials are pleasantly described, but none of the characters stand out very distinctly, with the exception of cousin Alice, of whom we could wish to have seen more. But that would have meant another heroine, and already the stage is a little crowded.
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