The Great Refusal. By Maxwell Gray. (John Long. 6s.)— Whatever
may be thought of the execution of this novel, its ideals are so much "on the side of the angels" that the story itself cannot but be welcomed by the serious reader. Though the establishment of the Brotherhood of the Golden Rule is undoubtedly a delightful dream, the mind of the critic cannot evade the suspicion that East Africa is not a suitable spot in which to plant a modern Utopia. If this dream of a cemmunity with lofty and inspiring ideals is to come true, its home should not be in a continent thickly inhabited with warlike tribes in a primeval state of civilisation. How- ever, the Brotherhood is mostly described in the epilogue, and the main part of the book deals with the living problems of the present day. The hero, Adrian Bassett, is the person who makes the "great refusal." He declines to continue in his father's business, which he discovers to have been founded on commercial dishonesty, and to be partly maintained in its prosperity through the oppression of the employes. The character of Adrian i well realised, though the author does not succeed in making him quite as lifelike as he should be. The reader feels that a compound of ideas has been put before him as a hero, not a flesh-and-blood human being. Isobel, the heroine, is more vividly drawn ; but in a book which has so few conventions it is really painful to come across the old, old figure of the rejected lover viewing the wedding of his false lady-love from a humble place in the crowd. The book is certainly above the average in readability as well as in ideals ; and though the workmanship does not always reach the level of the conception, the main part of the story amply repays the reader for wading through what must be acknowledged to be the extreme dulness of the first two or three chapters.
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