Mr. and Mrs. John had a sudden feeling that they
must go and live in. Sweden for six months. So with little .rponey, a Swedish grammar, a few introductions and a lot of illusions they went to Stockholm. Cheap lodgings in Stockholm turned out to be even drearier than in England, and the city itself a disappointment. The first part of Lodgers in Sweden (Faber and Faber, 12s. 6d.) in which they describe their stay in Stockholm makes depressing reading. It is a tale of weak coffee, tepid meals, tasteless butter, thin cream, dismal weather and disillusionment. They tried hard to see the funny side, but there does not seem to have been one. A lakeside farm in the middle of Sweden was better, but " That-sudden weight of melancholy descended on us which is the lot of travellers whenever they settle into a new place." This sort of gloomy remark scarcely makes the reader feel that-Mr. and Mrs. John travel in the right spirit, and though there are lighter passages and some excellent records of Swedish domestic life which make the book worth reading, on the whole it is, like the authors' venture, a qualified success.
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