Capricious Caroline. By E. Maria Albanesi. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—This
novel of "society" has several points which differen- tiate it agreeably from most of its contemporaries, and for which the reader who wants to be amused without his intellect being insulted or his taste being offended will feel very grateful. In the first place, although it deals with the "smart" world, there is not a single Duchess or Countess among the characters, which is indeed a relief to the weary reviewer. Again, although the most typical mondaine in the book undoubtedly behaves excessively badly, the author does not think it necessary to repre- sent the "world" as a sort of sink of iniquity peopled by epigram- matic rakes with whom no decent person ought to wish to consort. She recognises, on the contrary, that the social world, like every other, is composed both of good people and of bad. Thirdly, and most important of all, Madame .Albanesi remembers that there are other Commandments which her wicked characters can break besides the Seventh, so that, for a book which is purely a story of society as it exists to-day, Capricious Caroline contains a great deal of very welcome novelty. It is also decidedly readable, and though the characters are not subjected to any v.?.ry subtle analysis, they are firmly drawn and quite sufficiently convincing.
Previous page
