The Waters of Jordan. By Horace Annesley Vacholl. (John Murray.
65.)—It is obvious that if an author wishes to write a novel pointing out the terrible punishment meted out to his hero for committing a sin, it is necessary for him to begin his story with the sin in question. For this reason readers of Mr. Vachell's new novel, The Waters of Jordan, must forgive the exceedingly unpleasant nature of the first chapters. Descriptions of and allusions to a divorce case cannot be a very promising opening to a book, but Mr. Vachell in this work is entirely on the side of the angels. The horrors of the hero's position would bring home to any young man reading the book the slippery nature of the slope on which he has set his feet when be begins to flirt with a married woman. The story of Hugo Charteris's life in the forest of Ys, when he has disappeared from the world during the six months before the decree of divorce is made absolute, is extremely well told, and the figure of Joy Vennable is more attractive than that of most heroines. The book is full of good work and eminently readable, and the minor characters are well and carefully drawn.
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