18 FEBRUARY 1928, Page 21

Mr. Liam O'Flaherty is one of the few realistic writers

of to-day whose manner of telling a story is unmistakably their own : we should recognize his work even were it published anonymously. The three tales in his latest book (The Fairy Goose, Faber and Gwyer, 25s. 6d.) are slight, but ar good as anything he has done. We recommend a reading of them to young writers doubtful about " how to begin." Here is a master of the bare, untrimmed narrative : and yet, paradox as it seems, one who can write three or four pages of finely balanced prose on the breaking of a single wave of the sea, and make it as exciting as a detective yarn ! " Mackerel for Sale," one of the stories here, is pure Irish. * * *