THE SECRETARY OF STATE. By Stephen McKenna. (Butterworth. 7s. 6d.)—Mr.
McKenna's new novel—the second instalment of his trilogy, The Realists—has in it all the elements that we look for in his work, although here they are in different proportions from those he has accustomed us to expect. While, for example, To-Day and To-Morrow was rather a satire on our post-War world than a love story, The Secretary of State is a love story rather than a tract for the times. It is true that the author again gives us some con- vincing incidental glimpses into social life and political in- trigue ; and the figure of Sir Ambrose Sheridan, the self-made, ambitious Colonial Secretary, unscrupulously throwing friends and associates to the wolves as he fights his own way to power, looms consistently large and menacing throughout the book. But the main interest centres upon the love of Max Hendry' at one time Sheridan's private secretary, for Sheridan's young wife, Auriol, who, a mere girl inflamed by flattery and the prospect of influence, has allowed herself to supplant the innocent, but divorced, Laura. On Auriol's marriage with Sheridan, Max finds work in Chili. Returning after two years, he finds Auriol disillusioned and hungering for real love ; and real love—rather rare in modern fiction—is what we are shown. The scenes between Max and Auriol are more poignant than anything Mr. McKenna has yet written. At times temptation almost overwhelms the lovers. At last they part, Auriol remaining loyal to -Sheridan and Max returning, to his nitrate business in Chili. The epilogue hints at a happy ending in the final volume of the series.
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