17 APRIL 1915, Page 21

Hungerfieart. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—The author of Hangerhearl has fallen

into a mistake which is very common among writers of autobiographical fiction, if we may be allowed the phrase—the mistake of recording far more than is ever contained in a child's memory. The fault is here exaggerated, since the writer has naturally a mind for details, and she even gives accurate accounts of conversations overheard at the age of three. This method is obviously absurd and not a little vexatious; but perhaps it serves as well as any other to draw the portrait of a precocious and objectionable child. The interest of the book increases, as the heroine—we hesitate to burden the anonymous author with the psychology of the chief character—endures hard times and gains experience ; but the record of her life is one of dreary tuthappiness, at which we do not wonder, since, as the title seems to suggest, she is only able to consider the world in its relation to her own personality. It only remains to be added that, following not unusual course of development, she passes through theatrical life and the suffragist movement, to satisfy at last the hunger of her heart in the ardent adoption of Roman Catholicism.