A Happy Marriage. By Ada Cambridge. (Hurst and Blackett. 6s.)—"
Ada Cambridge" would have been well advised if she had given her readers some sort of notice that the scene of her novel was laid in Australia. As it is, the book thoroughly proves the truth of the French saying, Plus ca change plus c'est la milme chose. But for the background, the reader might readily believe that the scene of the book was laid in a large English provincial town, and not in one of the principal cities of the Island Continent. The story is a careful and detailed account of the marriage of two perfectly incompatible people, who yet contrive at the end of their lives, through the power of their sincere love for each other, to revive the affection which marked the first days of their union. The plot would be exceedingly ingenious if it were possible to believe in the lifelikeness of the heroine ; but, un- fortunately, Mrs. Paul Stretton—Helen, as she is called—is a very contradictory figure, and has not the qualities of her defects. In fact, she has quite other qualities which the reader cannot believe would have existed with her defects. She is bard, worldly, and a great snob, and it is impossible to believe in the author's ingenious plea that these qualities are caused in women by idleness and lack of serious interests, and can be overcome finally and for ever by a great emotion. That they may be over- come temporarily there is no doubt, but a habit of mind which has continued for over twenty years is too serious a thing not to resume its empire when the moment of emotion is past. The novel presents to English readers a curious picture of Colonial life, and suggests that the drawbacks of over-civilisation are even more strongly felt by a young nation than by an old. It is a great pity that the character-drawing fails to carry conviction, as the subject is anything but commonplace. If it were only possible to believe in Helen, the book would be a human document of a very interesting and original kind.
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