Tales of Greyhouse. By R. S. Warren Bell. (A. and
C. Black. 3s. 6d.)—Mr. Warren Bell knows boys and schools, and how to pitch a school story in the right key, to give us plenty of stirring episodes—a rebellion, a fire, and what not—and yet not to go beyond the limits of probability. Every single boy he delineates is a distinct character, and that cannot be said of some writers of
good schoolboy stories. Moreover, none of his villains are really bad—even the bullies have pluck—and we have presented to us the development of the bad boy into a decent one,—a phase of school life, strange to say, far too much neglected. Mr. Bell does this for us, and it comes as a surprise. When we consider that this is one of the aims of English school life, it is scarcely a legitimate cause for wonder. We shall be even more astonished if every boy who reads Tales of Greyhouse does not vote it the best school story of the year, perhaps the best he has ever read. That, to be brief, is our opinion.
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