16 NOVEMBER 1918, Page 16

READABLE NOVELS. —A Love Offensive. By F. E. Penny. (Chatto

and Windus. 6s. net. )—A novel about Ceylon in which gypsy snake-charmers and a native background play a large part. The vast forests are picturesquely described. It is a war story, and is concerned with the efforts of the Germans to create dissatisfaction among the natives of Ceylon.—Out of the War ? By Mrs. Belloc- Lowndes. (Chapman and Hall. 7s. net.)—No one who pays attention to the query-mark at the end of the title will be taken in by the seeming quiet of the watering-place Pymsand, where Mrs. Belloc- Lowndes's heroine goes for a rest from war work. The adventures she has and the manner in which she is completely hoodwinked by a clever German spy are excellently described.