Idonea. By Thalia Marsden. (Eden, Remington, and Co.)— This is
an extremely unpleasant and even unwholesome story. Doubtless its author is actuated by good intentions, and means to show the irreparable mischief that may be done to an impression- able nature by parental selfishness. But although Idonea Sin- clair is naturally enough resentful of the inattention shown by her father to her mother, which is all the more notable that it is contrasted with that father's very delicate attentions to another woman, that is no reason why she should become the mistress of a philanthropist and thinker like Norman Roy. It is equally in- credible that he, as a married man, should have condescended to degrade a woman whom he respected and had reason to respect, by forming such a connection with her. Granted the liaison, however, the tragic deaths of Idonea and her infant are quite natural events, and are well described. The early moral and physical struggles of the unfortunate girl are sketched fairly enough. The book, however, as a whole, is notable for crude thinking on difficult questions.
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