5 JANUARY 1924, Page 28

VIOLA HUDSON. By Isabel Clarke. (Hutchinson. 7s. ed.) This story

stands out from among the ordinary ruck of novels. The writer is bold enough to let her heroine ruin her life for a religious conviction and skilful enough to keep the reader's sympathy. Whether in the last chapters she does well in sacrificing art to a happy ending is a matter of opinion. The vein of austerity which runs through the story gives it a pleasant, and in these days rather an unusual, flavour.