VIOLA OF THE OLD STREET. By Princess Mirza Riza Khan
Arfa. (Grant Richards and Humphrey Touhnin. 7s. 6d.)—There is a great charm about the first two or three chapters of this excellent translation from the Swedish. The author is an animist who invests violins with life and writes very amusingly about the old street in Stockholm, which
at times raised its back as though in pretended fright, and at other times lay down completely flat, making one wonder what had happened now. Old low, wooden houses clung to it and hung from it, and in affectionate curiosity the old street itself peeped through the small windows as it went past." One almost feels as though one were reading some newly-discovered Hans Andersen story until one comes to the main plot of the book. Viola, the child violinist, who lives in the old street, is an engaging personality at first, but as she grows older she becomes more and more insipid until she resembles the heroine of a schoolgirl romance. The book, which promises so well, lacks toughness, the humour declines, and the frequent references to the soul of the violin become tedious. Nevertheless, Viola of the Old Street is worth reading in spite of its superficial qualities of charm, quaintness and idealism.
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