30 MAY 1914, Page 23

The Trend. By William Arkwright. (John Lane. 6s.)— This is

a mystical romance dealing with a young composer who accidentally finds a boy with a wonderful tenor voice in the streets and trains him to sing the principal part in his own cantata. The boy, William Soulsby, is acknowledged by the author to be not entirely human, but there is more than a grain of poetry in his composition, and he is an attractive figure. The end of the book, which should be impressive, is really a little melodramatic. The idea of a person who expires whilst emitting an immensely high note cannot fail to be rather comic.