Geoff and Jim. By Ismay Thorn. (Wells Gardner, Darton, and
Co.)—It is not easy to see why lady-writers of fiction have such a taste for stories of schoolboy-life. This life is really a very little-known region, and those who might be supposed to have some acquaintance with it, are really very ignorant. Miss Thorn's pictures seem to us very unreal. The fun, the mischief, the faults, and the virtues of her boys have the look of being "evolved out of her own consciousness." Of course the stock incident of the bad boy getting the good boy into trouble by hiding some missing property among his belongings, is utilised for the hundredth time, and does not add to the probability of the tale. There is some entertainment to be got out of the book, and the intention with which it is written is unexceptionable ; but we cannot speak of it as a success.
Previous page
