THE HOTEL. By Elizabeth Bowen. (Constable. 7s. 6d.)— " I
have often thought it would be interesting," says one of Miss Bowen's women, " if the front of any house, but of an hotel especially, could be swung open on a hinge like the front of a doll's house." That, figuratively, is what this novel does. It introduces us to English society during the winter season at a Mediterranean hotel, and shows us " all the people surprised doing appropriate things in appropriate attitudes." Several love stories, and one in particular, give continuity to the book. But its originality and charm lie in its varied and incisive portraiture, its excellent literary style, and in the mingled sympathy and irony with which the author exposes the petty ambitions and jealousies, and the occasional redeeming virtues, of her characters.
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