The Maid of the Silver Sea. By John Oxenham. (Hodder
and Stoughton. Gs.)—This novel deals with the exceedingly wild and lawless habits of the men of the island of Sark, and the reader will gather as he proceeds that, though no specific date is recorded, the action must take place in the early part of the nineteenth century. The chief interest of the volume is in the extraordinarily vivid descriptions which the author gives of the wild rocky scenery of the island, and the way in which the sea races and boils along the rock-bound coast. The heroine's feats of swimming will be the admiration of all readers. The explanation of the problem " Who killed young Tom Ramon?" is rather difficult to credit, and it is not made easier by Peter Mauger being also killed in the same extraordinary circumstances. It would be unfair to give the author's solution, but when a third attempt at murder is added to the two crimes already accomplished, it is almost impossible to regard seriously the author's account of the identity of the murderer. The book is exciting, though it has no pretensions to any subtle drawing of character.
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