STRANGE FRUIT. By Phyllis Bottome. (Collins. 7s. 6d.)—Phyllis Bottome at
her best is a brilliant impres- sionist with a darting insight into the obscurer stir of human motive. She is frequently at that best in these adroit and versatile short stories. Hers is the art of pausing at the right moment, and of completely accounting for the small, deeply luminous canvas of her conte without overcharging it. The orchards of her " strange fruit " grow in England, France, Italy, Poland, Austria. The sea and air about Capri she conveys with a singular radiance of effect. Her people are as ethereal as the great Duse-like actress redeemed to the stage in " The Miracle," and as elemental as the unfor- tunate tiger called " Henry," though most of them hesitate about the middle of the scale. " The Grievance " is a scathing piece of satire, the Wonderchild " has an acute pathos, " Le Drame " is very good fun, " The Napkin " is an inexorable exposure of a post-War social type, in " The Lesser Light " a Jacobean situation is suavely manipulated, and " The Lost Leader " is a remarkably virile War story with an immediate sense of the difference between the Eastern and Western fronts. But all the stories are at once eminently readable and distinguished by the originality of their psychological points and the animated ease of their style.
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