The Bridal of Anstace. By Elizabeth Godfrey. (John Lane. Gs.) — It
is extremely difficult to persuade oneself to believe in the plot of The Bridal of Anstace. One can hardly conceive it possible that a bridegroom on hearing that his first wife was still alive should, while the bride was changing her dress before their departure on the honeymoon, vanish without leaving the smallest explanation behind him. Once, however, the reader accepts the fact that this happened, the rest of the book contains an interest- ing account of how the unfortunate bride contrives to create a sort of life for herself in a lonely seaside place. Miss Godfrey is best at descriptions of scenery, and her pictures of the scenery and the life of a Coastguard station are vivid and well realised. But the reader always has the irritating sense that an impossible situation is the foundation of the whole book, and this idea interferes with his enjoyment even of the most attractive passages.
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