6 NOVEMBER 1897, Page 11

Mans Stella. By M. C. Balfour. (John Lane.)—There are some

vivid portraits and touches of a Breton fisherman and the little bourgeois girl he marries, and the great contrast between the strong, savage Breton temperament of Laurence le Bras and the narrow, conventional type of girl as represented by Poldine is well brought out. The tone of the story is tragic. Of course Le Braz is a terreneuvas so that the story cannot end happily; ho is one of those left behind on the banks. Tho atmosphere of melancholy reminds one of the wonderfully sad story of Pierre Loti, whose hero, it will be remembered, was an Iceland fisher- man. Admirable as minor characters are the rough but clever Mere le Braz and the good little doctor. It is a sad story, but a very readable one.