A Little Aversion. By Clara J. Martin. (J. W. Arrowsmith,
Bristol. 6s.)—It can hardly ho by accident that Miss Martin reminds us so often of Jane Austen. The social arrangements of
the people whom she describes are the same that we see in Pride and Prejudice and other Austen stories. The dinner hour is four
o'clock ; one of the gentlemen wears a plum-coloured coat. There is a strong similarity in tho dialogue and in the author's reflec- tions. When, for instance, Sir Charles Lorrimer finds it difficult to save, he cannot understand why "the slow accumulation of
the pounds which were to serve his Lucy from future suffering should remain unaffected by the ardour of his love or the fervour of his economic resolves." This is good enough. A. less happy example is to be found in the feeling of the Chilcoto people about Miss Marian Annesley, who has been left nuprovided for by an eccentric grandfather. That they " wished the young lady a rich husband with all their hearts, and thus generously provided for her future" is all right, but Jane Austen would have been content with the irony and not gone on to write of "the glow of that cheap benevolence which confines itself to good wishes alone." The parson is very AustA3nesque I but this is not altogether a recommendation. And how about the general effect of the story ? We all know that Jane Austen must not be "skipped." Any reader who does this finds her quite commonplace. Now it is sometimes difficult to read A Little Aversion without skipping. To put it in another way ; it is scarcely a book to read aloud. Nevertheless it is a very creditable effort, and we look forward to another effort which may well prove to be more completely successful.
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