Dukie : a Novel. By Lois Ludlow. (S. Tinsley.)—If, as
we imagine, this is a first attempt on the part of "Lois Ludlow," we can honestly say there is a good deal in it to encourage her to try again. The plot is well conceived and thoroughly original, some of the characters are uncommonly well drawn, and will certainly live in the reader's memory. The two heroines, Dulcie and Addy, are equally charming, and are well contrasted. Granting (as we readily do) that as there is no such thing as conversation now-a-days, it would be unnatural on the reader's part to expect it, and on the author's part to give it us, in a novel. The dialogue, then, as we must call it, is particularly life-like and good. The author's fault is that she overloads her story with a crowd of meaning- less and disturbing occurrences, which have nothing to do with her plot, and are, in fact, mere padding. It is absurd to relate all the details of a ride, for instance, unless they have some bearing on the plot of the tale, or on the characters of the persons engaged. Although nearly everybody in the book is somebody else's cousin—indeed, the relation- ships are very confusing—there is quite sufficient distinctness given to each person, and some of them, such as Miss Sophie Verelst and the Major, are vivid and " rememberable."
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