Sits Second Love. By Julia Kavanagh. Three vols. (Hurst and
Blactett.)-:41iss Kaaitatiagh ought not to spoil: a , genuine style by attempts at aensation. Her forte lies in quiet portraiture, as she has abeam in seatextoveLs of high merit, But since other lady writers have earned &transient fame, and money which we hope they have invested more profitably, Mies Kavanagh has also tried her hand at murder and mystery. We say murder, though we are not sure that a murder is intended, but we never arrive at a satisfactory solution of the great riddle in Sybil's Second Love. Sybil herself is a charming character, and there is power in the portrait of her husband, as well as in that of her bosom friend and false stepmother. But both of these last suffer from the mystery to which we have alluded, and while Miss Kavanagh makes them scheme she thinks herself absolved from the necessity of keeping them natural. We regret these blemishes, for the novel is good in many points, and may occupy a conspicuous place in the list of those to be ordered from Mudie's.
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