THE PRISON HOUSE. By D. F. Gardiner. (Constable. 75. 6d.)-Here
we have an extremely gloomy post-War tragedy, which begins with the despair of an ex-army officer who has lost his job of selling vacuum cleaners for an unscrupulouS dompany, has a feckless wife and a large family. - By an over- dose of chloroform, Major Clive provides an escape for his youngest son from the prison-house of life, and afterwards shoots. himself. The rest of the story is devoted to accounts of the various attempts of the children who are left, to find their own ways of escape from existence into a life that is worth the trouble of living. Although tragedy succeeds tragedy, and although the characters are for the most part dismal figures moving against .a background of gloom, the book never fails to hold the attention. The people in it are real people, the conversations are natural and the situations are convincing. Mr. Gardiner, who has a crisp style of writing, restrains from stressing any moral, but his book might be read with profit by those who are inclined to blame the younger generation for being what they are. He writes with such economy that one feels the book would make an excellent scenario for a cinema play.
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