Gordon Keith. By Thomas Nelson Page. (W. Heinemann. 6s.) —As
is the case with most books which contain the whole biography of their hero from his earliest years, the beginning of this novel is by far the most successful part. Old General Keith, who has in full the chivalrous charm of the Southern gentleman (the book is American), appears very little after the first chapters of the story, and the reader will greatly regret his absence. The romantic scenery in which the early part of Gordon Keith's life is passed also tends to make the later chapters seem a little tame in comparison with what has gone before. Perhaps, however, all this ingennity in accounting for an undoubted fact is superfluous, and Mr. Page's inability to keep the attention of his readers for more than two hundred pages is the real reason why we get a little weary about half-way through the book. Such great con- structive ability is required to weld together a very long story that it is unfair to expect Mr. Page to succeed in a task which taxed all the ability of Thackeray and Dickens.
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