20 MARCH 1909, Page 26

Thie—lifil Son. By Ren6 Basin. Translated by Dr. A. S.

Rappoport. (Sisley's. Gs.)—Though not equal in power to M. Basin's last book, " Redemption," his present volume gives an interesting description of the life of a large farmer proprietor and his family in La VendUe. The book is very melancholy in tone, and the account of the unfortunate Pierre's venture into the journalistic world in Paris with its tragic end is anything but cheerful. The picture of the farm at La Geniviere is curious, and shows the immense difference between the life of the French peasant proprietor and that of the prosperous English farmer. The novel is quite adequately translated.