HOLIDAY NOVELS
Prairie (Walter J. Muilenburg, John Lane, 7s. Od.) is a work of serious intention about land problems of the Middle West. * * * The scene of The Keeper of the Bees (Gene Stratton Porter, Hutchinson, 7s. 6d.) is laid in California, and the story will interest English readers as giving the American side of the return of a soldier from the Great War. The book will please those readers who like the particular brand of sentimental writing popular in America. * * * Two mystery stories suitable for summer weather are The Black Owl (William Le Queux, Ward Lock, 7s. (id.) and The Westwood Mystery (Charles J. Dutton, Hurst and Blackett, 7s. 6d.). The latter has an American setting, but Mr. Le .Queux is faithful to his native land and gives us a story of a fraud in a country house. * * * English middle-class people are described in First Love, Last Love (C. G. L. Du Cann, Duckworth, 7s. 6d.) and in Nets and Cages (Morgan de Groot, Alston Rivers, 7s. 6d.). The former story is largely concerned with life in an Anglo-Catholic convent, the latter with the changes and chances which befall an opera singer. * * * Husks in May (Holt Marvell, Duckworth, 7s. Od.), which ends in the marriage of the heroine to ..her mother's former lover, should surely be left as a diet to those animals to whorl' husks are appropriate. Not only is the figure of the grande amoureuse not specially edifying, but the execution of the r,tory, which is told in the first person, has a sentimental bias which is decidedly unpleasant. * * * Countess Barcynskl gives us an interesting collection of very short stories in her Decameron Cocktails (Hurst and Blackett, 7s. 6d.) ; interest' ing, but not expertly told. * * The Reverend Birkland Challis, the villain of the piece in Behind the Fog (II. H. Bashford, Heinemann, 7s. Od. net.) is engaged in the White Slave Traffic. The fog of the title is the disappearance of the sister of the heroine, engineered, it may be said, by the above-named gentleman, and her recovery is the subject of the book. * * * Stories of ancient civilizations existing in the heart of an alien wilderness are always entertaining ; but the reader will be surprised at Mr. Moresby (The GlorY of Reipt, Nelson, 7s. 6d. net) showing him a remnant of ancient Egypt on the borders of Tibet. However, a very amusing romance is the result, with much magic, bloodshed and thrilling adventures. * * * The disappointments and di' illusionments of an ex-Service man are the subject of a Cana. 'dian novel with the title I Shall Arise (Harwood Steele, Hodder and Stoughton, 7s. 8d. net). The plan of the book is good, but the execution is not so successful.
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