The Wondrous Wife. By Charles Marriott. (Eveleigh Nash. 6s.)—The main
theme of the first part of this book is the contrast between the poet Austin Lisle's life in London, and that of his wife Margaret, who for a very good reason has separated from him, and lives by herself in the country. The catastrophe which so often menaces a beautiful woman separated from her husband is about to overwhelm Margaret, and the sacrifice to duty which she makes at the end is the outcome of the fine lines on which her character is drawn. Perhaps the two best portraits in the novel are those of Dr. Baines and Father Fabian Lester, though the latter is just a little conventional. The book is well written, and the last scene is specially striking. Margaret's answer to the priest's passionate appeal to her to show herself strong enough to support her unfortunate husband—"Don't shout at me, please, he'll hear you"—can, as Father Fabian acknowledges, only be the outcome of "some perfect work of art"; and it is a triumph for the author that the reader should not feel that the heroine's self-control is overdrawn.
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