DEAR ENGLAND : PORTRAIT OF AN ENGLISHMAN. By Eric Simons.
(Hodder and Stoughton. 7s. 6d.)—That Mr. Simons does not expect much from his readers is shown by the following extract from his preface : " People who do not write novels and do not know how they are written have a bad habit of assuming that the characters described in them are thinly disguised acquaintances of the author. . . . Intelligent readers will not need to be told that the persons whose experiences this novel relates and the incidents it describes are imaginary. The rest may. This preface tells them." There is little justification in the book for so por- tentous and scolding a beginning, for it is doubtful whether even unintelligent readers would consider any of its people alive enough to have any existence outside the covers. In justice to the writer it must be said that he can and does describe the workings of a business firm very well indeed : he shows the wheels within the wheels, the bias, the favouritism, the injustices and the lack of integrity. It is against these things that Peter, the hero, pits himself. He is determined to prove that his faith in England has a worthy foundation.
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