5 APRIL 1913, Page 29

READABLE NOVELS.—The Call of the Siren. By Harold Spender. (Mills

and Boon. 6s.).—A most interesting first novel. The parents who appear in the first chapters seem to be disappoint- ingly forgotten by the author and their own children : the last chapter is feebly abrupt : the middle is good.—The Fringe of the Desert. By R. S. Macnamara. (H. Jenkins. 6s.)—The interest in a girl and her newly found mother is shifted halfway through the book to her artistic, egotistic father and his love affair in luxuriant Egyptian setting : he makes base use of incredible mis- understandings.— White Motley. By Max Pemberton. (Cassell and Co. 6s.)—Melodrama, winter sports, and aviation in Switzer- land.