7 MAY 1921, Page 20

READABLE NOVELS. —Figs from Thistles. By Isabel M. Peacocke. (Ward,

Lock. 7s. net.)—The story of a New Zealand boarding-house, in which the mother, who is the moving spirit, meets with an accident and has to send for her daughter, who is living with a rich relation, to take her place temporarily. The most amusing scenes are the descriptions of the girl's struggles with her unaccustomed task.—A Woman of the Desert. By Moore Ritchie. (Melrose. 8s. 641. net.)—A story of Somaliland both before and during the war. Although it is impossible for English readers to judge of the truth of the picture presented, the writer gives a most detailed and convincing account of desert life and of the mentality of the Somalia.

2ge Mounkbank. By W. J. Locke. London : John Lane. Pa. ed. net.)