23 JUNE 1923, Page 19

Pagan Corner. By C. M. A. Peake. (Methuen. 7s. M.)

Polly Brent bad a witch for a mother, and came of a family of squatters, people who live in their own communities in out of the way moorland corners of England, and are regarded

• loves Pilgrim. By J. D. Berestord. London : Collins. [7a. Od. net.]

with a certain nervous suspicion by the valley villagers. The pictures of this strange life are very convincing, but in his actual character-sketches the author somehow fails to leave any clear impressions. Polly herself is none too distinctly drawn, and her thoughts are too complex for the part. So much of this book promises really well that her seduction and desertion by a workman seem a poor climax to the story and a sad complement to the author's considerable gifts of humour and description.