Hatred is Akin to Love. By Ptolemy Haughton. (Swan Sonnen-
schein and Co.)—The story, so far as it is described by the title, might be told in a very few pages. The hero does not appear till about four-fifths of the book have been written. He is a misogynist, but is as unstable in his opinion as if he were an Anglican vowed to celibacy. His hatred of women turns to the love of one woman in particular. But the real tale has to do with one Jessie Graham, the heroine's great friend, and with a certain cousin who loves the heroine, bat, under the influence of pique and champagne, engages himself to Jessie. This unhappy girl drinks, and commits suicide when the shame of the discovery becomes unendurable. Much of the story, it will be seen, is painful, and it is most inartistically put together ; but there are marks of ability in it. The heroine especially is a very pleasing picture ; and Mr. Bouverie was quite right in reconsidering his views after becoming acquainted with her.—In Birthrights, by Edgar Ray (T. Fisher Linwin), the hero is a young man who is brought down to the depths of adversity by the fraudulent bankruptcy of his father. This part of the story is good enough ; but another part, in which the early life of a certain Father Fabiani and the real parentage of the heroine, Eva Boyes, are concerned, is not entitled to the same praise. The style is somewhat cumbrous, and the moralising made more obtrusive than it should be. What does the author mean when he writes,—" Life is indeed, after all, the embodiment of ancient fable, where two women were grinding at one mill, and one was taken, the other left" ? What "ancient fable" ? We hope he does not mean St. Matthew's Gospel P—Twok. By Watson Griffin. (Griffin and Kidner, Hamilton, Ontario.)—A tale from Canada is such a rarity, that one would read a duller book than this with some interest. Twok, indeed, is not dull. It is a love-story, of course, and there is plenty of incident in it. Twok, it may be explained, is the heroine's name. In spite of it she is very pretty, lively, and good, and, after the proper amount of difficulties, meets with her happiness.
Previous page
