5 DECEMBER 1903, Page 7

A Heroine of the Sea. By Bessie Marchant. (Blackie and

Son. 3s. 6d.)—Maudie Belloc is a heroine of the Pacific, and youthful readers will find a pleasant change in trying to realise the conditions of a settler's life in Vancouver Island. The young lady is a not uncommon product of a hard primitive existence with little refining influence. When her brother offers a home to the grass-widow of a Klondyke prospector she soon realises that catching salmon is not the primary occupation of a woman. The girl's rebellion and ultimate change of view are cleverly contrived, and the life of the little fishing hamlet is brought before us clearly enough. It is a readable story, which gives none too roseate a picture of life on the North Pacific) Coast, but an eminently truthful and practical one.