Geoffrey Sanclair. By Horace Caradoc. (Constable and Co. 6s.)—We do
not remember Mr. Caradoc's name as a writer of fiction, but if Geoffrey Sanclair is a first book it is certainly a very promising achievement. It deals with modern life, chiefly in London, and does not scruple to paint it exactly as it is. At the same time the author avoids the extraordinary wealth of un- pleasant detail with which many writers seem to think it necessary to paint the relations of men and women. Geoffrey Sanclair, to whom at the beginning of the book the reader is introduced as an undergraduate, later on becomes a rising politician, and twice very nearly wrecks his career by his relations with women. The first woman he falls in love with is an actress at a variety theatre, and the second is a woman of Society. Of these two the actress is incomparably the better and purer woman, though she allows her care for Geoffrey Sanclair's career to prevent her 'from marrying him. The rather melodramatic situation at the end of the book is a little out of key with the rest. It is difficult to credit the intrigue of the French Ambassador which has for its object the breaking up of the entente cordiale and the projected alliance with a Power which, though it is called Borussia, obviously possesses a Kaiser. Even if the intrigue is believed in, it is quite obvious that the possession of the plans of a new dockyard would never have so tremendous an effect on such an alliance as suggested. If the possession of those plans were vital to " Borussia," " Borussia" would quite certainly take means to obtain them. However, the reader will be glad of this concluding episode in the book because it results in the complete failure of the schemes of the Society woman. By one of-these she hopes to indulge her passion for the Ambassador, while she is ready to fall back upon an alternative
marriage of ambition should the first go astray. One cannot help feeling extremely glad when the lady is deserted both by the man she loves and by the man who loves her.
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