THE BELATED RECKONING. By Phyllis Bottoinc. (Collins. 7s. 6d.)—Until Ellen
McDermott, at the age of forty-two, left Bournemouth she, had no idea what the world was like. "She didn't even read the Daily Vision, so she had no idea of what it wasn't like. The world simply seemed to her to be a large, rather noisy place, full of people she did not know ; some of whom, if she was not very careful, might 'speak to her." Ellen's personality was not expressed by her very uninteresting clothes and her negative appearance, since she had for many years kept alive a tiny germ of romance. When she went to Sicily this seed took root, put forth shy leaves and finally blossomed courageously. The author of The Belated Reckoning has given us an admirable study of the adaptability of this sheltered woman. Some of the adventures strain belief, but the characterization is good and the style bracing.
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