Daphne in Fitzroy Street, By E. Nesbit. (George Allen and
Sons. Gs.)—When Miss Nesbit writes a book for children and opens for her readers the doors of the realms of faerie, the events and adventures which she describes are entirely con- vincing. She makes it quite easy for us to believe in the most astonishing of magical adventures, and we do not question for one moment the truth of the statements which she puts before us. When, however, the same writer attempts to draw the common- place facts of everyday life, she does not succeed in making us believe in her characters, in the way they live, or in the things which happen to them. What figures, for instance, could be more conventional than those of Aunt Emily and Uncle Harold in the present novel, and even than that of "Henry," the artist-hero himself ? Aunt Emily and Uncle Harold merely stand as figures of cruelty, and "Henry" is rather a blatant example of the type of strong brutal hero with whom the reader of Early Victorian novels is only too familiar. Can it be that Miss Nesbit, in painting a picture, omits to provide any grey shades in her colours ? Everyday life is mostly grey. Fairy- stories are entirely black or white. Miss Nesbit has written so many fairy-stories, and contrasted black and white has become so familiar to her, that the useful and convincing grey wherewith everyday life should be painted is forgotten altogether. In her present book the opening scenes of the schoolgirls' feast in a deserted attic are delightful, though the love-making up the chestnut-tree is commonplace. But directly Daphne, the heroine, gets to Fitzroy Street it is difficult either to believe in her or to take much interest in her doings. Doris, her little sister, is a child, and therefore a living figure to Miss Nesbit, and a certain strange Russian artist who is aLso a child by nature is well realised and well drawn. For the rest, the book, though readable, cannot be called a great success. It is to be hoped that Miss Nesbit in her next story will leave everyday life, in drawing which many writers are more successful than she, and once again conduct her delighted readers into the world as seen through the eyes of a child,—a world in the presentation of which she is at the present moment almost without a rival.
Previous page
