The Wise Woods. By Mrs. Henry Dudenoy. (W. Heinemann. 6s.)—The
adjective by which Mrs. Dudeney describes the woods can certainly not be applied to Vasliti, the heroine of this novel, who is about as foolish a young person as it is possible to con- ceive. It will of course be conceded that the circumstances of Vashti's parentage were against her, the union of an enthusiastic and ritualistic clergyman and a gipsy girl straight out of a caravan not being likely to result in a child which would turn out a model of wisdom. The commonplace reader will find the novel rather puzzling, as there is a considerable amount of doubt as to what the Church which plays a great part in the develop- ment of some of the characters really is. When the hero remarks that he has not attended High Mass "for years," a feeling of great bewilderment will overtake any reader who remembers that the heroine is the daughter of a married clergyman. The Church, as is proved by internal evidence, is meant to be the same all through the book, but what that Church may be only Mrs. Dudeney can tell. In spite of some pleasant descriptions of the wild life of the open air, there is a decidedly unpleasant flavour about the whole novel, which culminates in a most disagreeable catastrophe at the end.
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