Nance of Manchester. By Orme Ag,nus. (Methuen and Co. 6s.)—As
a piece of vivid portraiture Nance of Manchester must be pronounced a striking success, but the personality of the heroine decidedly overshadows the rest of the book. The first eight chapters, which are all concerned with slum life in Man- chester, are quite absorbing, and the reader will be inclined to cavil at "Orme Agnus" for switching off the interest in chapter ix. to a perfectly different set of people. It is almost a pity that the author believed himself to need a sentimental heroine and so to introduce a love interest. lIf he had been content merely to give a picture of Nance and old Betty the book would have been a more harmonious whole. The device of introducing a serious-minded:and broken-hearted vaaiety- saran is-certainly inge- nious, but a more conventional figure would have provided incidents dining Nance's stay in Dorsetshire, and the break in the middle of the book would thus have been avoided. The whole otory has an excellent moral tone, and " Orme Agnus" may be congratulated on having resisted the temptation of contrasting the excellent Weeleyan minister with a bad example of the Anglican vicar of a country parish. On the contrary, the Established Church clergyman, though much more lightly sketched, is a very sympathetic person, with a secret admiration for his nonconforming colleague. 'The figure of Betty, the charming and saintly minded old countrywoman, is also well drawn, though it is a little more conventional than that of Nance. The author's writingis almost too poignant in his description of Nance's care for the little brother and sister whom she calls her children, and it is a pity that he should have thought it necessary to kill Nance at the end of the story. The book, however, will, we feel sure, give very real pleasure to " Orme,Agnus's " many friends and admirers.
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