The Good Shepherd. By John Roland. (William Black- wood and
Sons. 6s.)—Misunderstanding and opposition are wont to dog the steps of the medical practitioner, and difficulties must be faced in all professions ; but we are glad to think that it is not the lot of every medical student to encounter such an accumulation of hindrances as beset Charles Southerland Edwards in the little village of Thiersee, in Tyrol there was jealousy, and faith-healing, and dirt, and traditions, and rampant tuberculosis. Of course, it all comes right in the end, and the coming makes a delightful story which provides, in spite of its idyllic nature, a con. siderable number of dramatic situations, as when the hero fails—this is the one blemish on an otherwise unspotted pro- fessional career—to connect a severed artery, and allows a poor peasant to bleed to death. The writer of the book is fond of indulging in a mild cynicism unworthy of a man with his capacity for idealism; and the evidently first- hand account of the Thiersee passion play will vex and disillusion those who have made pilgrimage to Oberammergau. But he has a charming fancy and a command of good, simple English ; and his characters are so improbable and so com- plex as to convince us that they must certainly have been drawn from life.
Previous page
