The Strayings of Sandy. By D. Conyers. (Hutchinson and Co.
6s.)—Mr. Alexander Acland, the hero of Miss Conyers's story, being in bad health and low spirits, went to Ireland, hunted; and was cured. We recommend any one in a similar state to try this book as a specific. It is the best novel of the writer's that we have read, and it is full enough of high spirits and humour to convert the most misanthropic. A little London stockjobber —not a stockbroker, as he is inaccurately described—thrown into the midst of a hunting Irish county, soon shows the excellent quality that is in him, and finds not only a lasting hobby and restored health, but a late romance. Of course, there are crudities in it,—a very ordinary type of villain, for example, and a good many far-stretched coincidences. These we are accustomed to in the hunting novel, and pardon for the sake of the high spirits. But Miss Conyers has written something which is much more than the ordinary rollicking sporting story. She has in a high degree certain of the talents of the serious novelist The description of the breakdown of Mr. Acland's health is curiously vivid and convincing, and, as we have noted before, she has a keen eye for character. The pictures of the various Irish servants, of Standish, and of the old ladies at Ballymacshane are not easily forgotten. Excellent, too, are the little sketches of scenery and the account of Mr. Acland's doings in the hunting- field, and through all the book there is a current of humour which is never unsympathetic. It is a story which we can heartily recommend, and our only complaint is that it contains more printer's errors than any book we have ever read.
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