Scene: the West of Ireland (Co. Clare) during Cromwell’s invasion. The central figures are the Fawcetts, a Protestant planter family, whose sympathies have become Irish. The eldest son is an officer in the army of O’Neill. The second, the hero, is literary and unwarlike, and inclined to Quakerism. A Jesuit friend of the family figures prominently in the story, and is presented in a very favourable light. The Drogheda massacre and Cromwell’s repulse at Clonmel are included. ⸺ THE ORIGINAL WOMAN. Pp. 343. (_Hutchinson_). 1904. Thesis: whatever culture may have done for the modern woman, she reverts to the instincts of the original woman in the crisis of a life-decision. Scene: first, country house in Galway. The heroine is a typical modern girl of the best kind. The hero, who is also the villain, is a singularly attractive personality, the complicated workings of whose mind the Author delights to analyse. Later the scene changes to Martinique. Here an element of the supernatural and uncanny enters the story. The style is witty, the character-drawing very clever. ⸺ CAPTAIN LATYMER. (_Cassell_). 6_s._ Also 6_d._ ed. 1908. A sequel to _Castle Omeragh_. The eldest Fawcett is condemned by Cromwell to the West Indies, but escapes along with the daughter of Hugh O’Neill, nephew of Owen Roe. There are exciting adventures. The book, as does _Castle Omeragh_, gives a faithful picture of the times. ⸺ THE ULSTERMAN: a Story of To-day. Pp. 323. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._ 1914. A very candid, plainspoken, and judicious picture of life in North-East Ulster. Pictures what the TIMES LIT. SUPPL. calls “the unsympathetic materialism, the drab ugliness of a life which finds its chief recreation in religious strife, and much of its consolation in strong drink.” But dwells upon the sterling good qualities that go to counterbalance these others. Opens in a mid-Antrim town on the eve of “the 12th.” Story of a bigoted Ulster mill-owner whose sons eventually marry into Catholic families of a lower class. Not political. ⸺ THE LADY OF THE REEF. Pp. 348. (_Hutchinson_). 6_s._ 1915. A young English artist in Paris suddenly inherits a property in North Co. Down, and arrives to find himself in a puzzling environment. Cleverly sketched characters are introduced—MacGowan, the pushful attorney, the excellent parson Gilliland, and the dipsomaniac captain. Then there is a wreck, a rescue, and enter the “Lady of the Reef.” The sequel tells whether she accepts the artist or not.—(I.B.L. and T. LIT. SUPPL.).