9 AUGUST 1919, Page 22

Consequences. By E. M. Delafiekl. (Hodder and Stoughton. Bs. net.)—Not

even "Miss Delafield's " wit can save her new book from being a very dreary production. It is a study in temperament of a most trying and a most disagreeable woman who fails in every relation of life, and finally can find nothing but suicide to extract her from the impossible situation in which the has landed herself. "Miss Dela,field's" pictures of life in a 3onvent are always informing reading, but the novel suffers from there not being a single character in which the reader can :eel the slightest sympathy. Owing to the concentration on the haracter of the heroine, the story is a little thin, and it will be a disappointment to readers who had hoped that this author would make steady progress after the brilliancy of her filet works.