Mrs. Ames. By E. F. Benson. (Hodder and Stoughton. 6s.)— .
Mr. Benson gives the impression of having taken over his latest novel far more serious trouble than usual. At any rate, there is more close observation and description of the very few characters that he presents, and he seems to be purging himself of the smart flippancy with which he used to surfeit his readers. The follow- ing specimen, a propos of a doctor's social position, stands almost alone in the book : " A dentist's profession was self-sacrificing too, but you did not dine at your dentist's, though his manipulations enabled you to dine with comfort and confident smiles elsewhere." Some may find in it only a chronicle of petty doings and snobbery in a small provincial town, but there is something more. Mrs. Ames is a woman of stronger personality than her neighbours, and the theme is how this tells effectually in the long rim. That she should be grudgingly acknowledged as the social leader comes to nothing: that she should become the leader again in a local women's suffrage movement comes to worse than nothing, it ends in fiasco. When, however, her foolish but not naturally vicious husband is about to run away with the married woman of next importance in the story, then she really shows her greater force of character. Her management of both parties and the way in which the gossiping neighbours are kept in ignorance are admir- able. Mr. Benson ought to know that mayors do not preside in full robes at party political meetings.
Previous page
