Mona St. Claire. By Annie E. Armstrong. (Frederick Warne and
Co.)—This is a bustling and readable story, first of the troubles—chiefly about dresses and small expenses—and then of the social triumphs, of a family of girls whose father, although. the Hon. Hugh St. Claire and the son of Lord Orme, is in straitened circumstances, and finds it difficult to lead a quite " genteel " existence. Mona, although her "nervous system" is not in the best condition, and she is a bit of a somnambulist, is the good genius of the family and the good girl of the story. She gives material help to her rather undeserving brother, a young officer always in difficulties, and when through the death of her grandfather she gets command of money she is enabled to gratify what may fairly be termed her "philanthropic instincts," and to establish a convalescent home. At the same time, the ordinary reader of this story will probably prefer to Mona's earnestness the chatter and frivolity of her more " worldly " sisters Irene, Daphne, and Hilda. Mona St. Claire is an excellent series of studies of a not uncommon kind of family.
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