THE SECRET BIRD. By Daphne Muir. (Chatto & Windt's 7s.
6d.). Here is a novel which can be recommended to everyone who likes good writing, sound characterization, and .quietly and steadily developed story. The scene is South, Africa. Martin Villet is master of the great fruit farm a Dauphine. Enter to him'Elizabeth, fresh from an English tit school, tempestuous, attractive, affectionate. She takes him by storm, and marries him. Dutch phlegm and such a leg. perament as hers do not easily combine, even if there were O.' the farm to fight against her. She has a son, suffers an ?et!: dent, becomes an mvalid. An attractive woman of flue? two, Christine, comes to nurse her, and, with Vivian Dark., the novelist,,completes the book's quartette. The relationship ,
these .cliiiiactefi,..againkt Bacl *Maid of Out
villseta.170—fiehlytai.k-ftr. Kr, 1 sm—inscaVS, 000 Who cares most is the loser. Mrs. Muir's dialogue is excellent. she does not interfere with her characters. The background is convincing, but never obtrusive. The Secret Bird is not an ambitious novel, nor planned on a big scale, but it has a quality that will not easily be forgotten.
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