19 JUNE 1897, Page 25

The Circassian. By Morley Roberts and Max Montesole. (Downey and

Co.)—This is a very spirited story of the struggle of the mountaineers of the Caucasus against the Russian invaders. Schamyl is the most prominent figure in the drama. The actual hero is his kinsman. The Russian armies could scarcely have been annihilated with the completeness which the hero, who tells the story in the first person, describes. There is a deep red colouring over all the book, and the description of the death by torture of the traitcr is distinctly too horrible.