A Syaxe 1s Epey."" By J. M. Ouse-ley. (J. M. Ouseley & Son Ld.
London, 6/- net.)
The above title and the announcement on the paper covery that "if some parts of thig book are startling, they are tempered, With reason and balanced by fr and open humour" may be calculated to catch the eye of a reading public in search of naughty narratives. But if they expect ta find anything "startling" herd they are doomed to disappointment. "More than one half of it is a series of commonplace conversations on Derby Day between' members of a military clique among the spectators, and it can! hardly be said that the story! would hold the average reader's interest. When the end of tha tale is reached, one may well ask:
(1) What has it all been about? (2) What was the plot? (3) Who was the "snake?" and, (4) Where the "free and open humour" was to be found?
Whether the latter was intend+ ed in the following conversation between an actress and an unsophisticated author, the reader must judge for himself What is your sweepstakes—a pound a time!
not like that. It is not a thing associated with weight. as far as our house raffle is concern-our what? Raffle?"
"No—No—I mean—er, sweepstake, its squared up on the money principle, and weight. Each of the persons who have taken a ticket on the thing draws either a horse or a blank,'* "And then what do you do?" "You wait till the race is over. You have to do that because, of course, you: don't know which horse is going to win."
ow tiresome. What did it run yow into?"
"Oh, you don't run. The horses do that. You have to wait."
Not only the substance of thd story but the grammar itself leaves much to be desired, and if J. M. Ouseley had not been his own publisher it is more than doubtful whether this novel would ever' have seen the light of to-day.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.