6 OCTOBER 1928, Page 45

BAD GIRL. By Villa Delmar. (Philip Allan. 7s. ad.).- There

are different ways of. being nasty, and the whole truth (however rawly it may be presented) is never so disgusting as semi-truth or perverted truth can be. We think, therefore, that Boston was wrong in banning this novel, which has enjoyed a large sale elsewhere in America. The story concerns a young lower middle-class couple who love not wisely, but too well, and have to marry m haste ; while, in its later stages, it presents an intimate study of expectant motherhood. PcXe. 0..49 denying the narrative's fidelity to life, nor. can we to admire the sincerity and syinpathy that underlie Miss 1k/mar's stark realism. As the work of a writer in her early twenties, Bad Girl is a remarkably promising performance. _ -

But Miss Delmar must learn to leave something to the reader's imagination. A novel is not the place for obstetrics.