23 JANUARY 1926, Page 26

The Backsliders. By Edgar Jepson. (Herbert Jenkins. 7s. - 6d. net.)—Mr.

Jepson has a keen sense of the comic and, apparently,, an inexhaustible fund _ of high spirits ; and in this book he his allowed both to run away with him, and in different directions. He introduCes a Bohemia in which life is one continual studio " rag " to a " county " society once familiar to the Victorian playwright. The result is farce of the wildest description, • but without that spice of truth which gives point to burlesque. The story, however, is founded upon a comedy by Mr. Jepson and Mr. Victor Bridges ; hence, perhaps, its essential staginess.