In dfl Shades a Novel. By Grant Allen. (Chatto and
Windus.) —Mr. Allen's novel may be described as a story with two heroes, two heroines, and one villain. One of the heroes and one of the heroines are Creolee, the others English; and while the English hero marries the Creole -heroine, the Creole hero mates with the English heroine. The story opens in England, but the action takes place chiefly in Jamaica, which the author, no doubt for a very sufficient reason, calls Trinidad. But the disguise is no thin, and the local colour so characteristic, that nobody who has ever visited either island could possibly be deceived by so transparent a device. In All Shades is a story with a purpose, that purpose being to expose the preposterous character and disastrous results of the caste prejudice which is supposed to prevail in Trinidad (read " Jamaica "). Edward Hawthorn is a native of the island, where his parents still live ; but he has graduated at Cambridge, got an Arabic scholarship, and become a member of the Bar. He has, moreover, the further advan- tages of being clever, good.looking, and light complexioned; in this re- spect differing from his friend, Edward Noel, who is very dark, the heir to a baronetcy, and otherwise highly connected. Hawthorn is engaged to Marian Ord, a charming young woman, whose dearest friend is Nora Dupay, a Trinidad Creole. Hawthorn is very desirous to pay a visit to his father, a rich anger-planter; but the father always opposes the pro- ject (almost puts a veto on it, in fact), without assigning any adequate reason. In the end, however, the son obtains a judicial appointment in Trinidad, marries Marian, and goes out there without waiting for the paternal permission, and, as it happens, in the same steamer as Nora Dupny. His father and mother, despite the great affection which they cherish for their son, make no secret of their regret that he has not followed their advice and remained in England,—why, they leave him to learn. And he is not long in learning. Albeit the Haw- thorns are no fair, one of their ancestors had a drop of black blood in bin veins, and this, in the opinion of the island whites, is enough to taint his descendants for all time. The local gentry treat him as an inferior, their women will neither visit nor recognise his wife, and even Nora has to see her friend by stealth. While all this is going on, Edward Noel tarns up in Trinidad, becomes the guest of the Dupuys, and is received everywhere with the most distinguished consideration. But when the Dupuys find out that his mother (onoe a reigning beauty in London drawing.rooms) had a alight touch of the tar-brush in her composition, he too is tabooed. Even Nora is greatly troubled by this portentous discovery, and although she adores the man, can hardly bring herself to overlook so fetal a defect. This is one of the weak points of the story. It is perhaps con- ceivable that a stupid, race-proud' Jamaica planter might in such circumstances object to his daughter engaging herself to an other- wise eligible parti; but that any Creole girl educated in England would hesitate to marry a man of good family and great expectations, a man whom she warmly loved, merely because his mother's grandmother was a Quadroon or an Octoroon, we do not believe. The exciting incident in the story is a negro rising, headed by a certain Louis Delgado, by a long way the most interesting and the best- drawn of our author's characters. For the sequel, we must refer readers to the novel itself, which, though not of absorbing interest, is decidedly readable, and contains a good deal of useful information. Being written by Mr. Grant Allen, we need hardly say that In All Shades ranks higher than the ordinary library novel. On the other hand, it is distinguished neither by ingenuity of plot, originality of treatment, nor brilliancy of style, and will hardly, we fear, win for the author a place among the leading novelists of the day.
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