The Trembling of a Leaf. By W. Somerset Maugha nt (William
Heinemann. 7s. 6d. net.)—Mr. Somerset Maughansr book is about the Pacific Islands, and is calculated to give to the reader, who is somewhat nice, all the pleasurable ingre. clients that the more popular style of literature on this them gives to a less fastidious public: Those whose stomachs are not strong enough to bear the ridiculous. sentimentalities and unlikely happy endings of the frequent magazine Pacific lore story are here given the bright sun, the white sand, the brilliant sea, the hot tropic night, the brown skins and red hibiscus flowers, but all seasoned with a certain realistic cynicism which entirely prevents them from cloying. Here and there his descriptions of person or landscape are genuinely illuminating. He has a most happy knack of evoking palm trees in particular. " Mackintosh " and " Rain," both powerful stories, are the best of an eminently readable collection. We apologize to the author for a verbally absurd juxtaposition which is not of his making.
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