13 JANUARY 1877, Page 26

Marks on the Door. By Mark May. (Sampson Low and

Co.)—The only thing in this novel distinguishing it from countless others which describe love-making, successful or unsuccessful, is the alarming sug- gestion of a society in the Roman Catholic Church which entraps young men with prospects of wealth, binds them with vows of celibacy, and visits them with fearful vengeance if they show any disposition to break loose. Mr." Mark May " should have stripped the story of Urban Ashbourne of its irrelevant belongings, and told it in the Rock newspaper.