The Labourer's Comedy. By Maud Stepney Rawson. (A. Con- stable
and Co. 6s.)—We have often had occasion to praise the delicacy and truth of Mrs. Rawson's work. Her new novel carries the reader into an atmosphere very different from that of her other books. It is a tale of two young married people who lose their money and go to live in a large block of second-class flats. Plowden Gifford is an inventor whose schemes never prosper, and his wife is compelled to become a journalist on a ladies' paper. For four years they live in the fiat, until a chance occurs in the North of England, and we leave the pair looking forward at last to a settled income and a hopeful future. The book is written throughout with singular insight and charm. All the many types who dwell in the " Hive " are presented without malice or caricature, but with convincing fidelity. Pamela Gifford herself is one of the most carefully studied figures we have met with for long, and in all her vicissitudes and struggles she never ceases to hold the reader's interest. The account of the way in which the circle of ladies' papers is run is full of humour, and the portrait of the bland editor is a little masterpiece of quiet and effective satire. The book is in every sense a " full " one, touching life on many sides; but a certain unity is preserved, since from beginning to end Pamela is the main centre of interest. It is not a work for which Mrs. Rawson's earlier stories had prepared us, but her success in this most difficult genre confirms us in our opinion of her remarkable talents.
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