23 SEPTEMBER 1922, Page 23

Charles Rex. ' By Ethel M. Dell. (Hutchinson. 7s. 6d.

net.)— The unctuousness of Miss Dell's writing does not diminish with each succeeding novel, and the only explanation of the fact that her novels sell by the hundred thousand must be that she contrives to impart a certain flavour of romance to her stories. Though they are, it must be owned, pompous and vulgar in sentiment, and though the author seems unacquainted with the manners and customs of the society she paints, yet they possess the quality of making the young woman reader wonder how she would have behaved in the heroine's circumstances, and they

• The Bent Twig, By Dorothy Canfield. London : Constable. 175. 6d. net.j

also give the public a great deal for its money. For instance the present book runs to nearly three hundred pages.