The Poison of Tongues.. By M. E. Carr. (Smith, Elder,
and Co. 6s.)—This book, though by no means a great novel, is an extremely readable story of modern society. The conduct of the heroine is not always quite credible, notably the engagement into which she hastily enters at the end of the book to please her mother, while she herself very well knows that she is in love with another man. The characters, however, are in the main true to life, though some of them are a little conventional, and the drawing of London society is not quite successful. Far be it from the present writer to criticise the details of feminine costume, but the habit of the heroine always to attire herself in a black gown in the evening, and thereby attract remark, may be considered at least doubtful by any one who has noticed the large preponderance of black gowns nowadays to be met with in London drawing-rooms. The reason for the generous silence of the hero will be very quickly guessed by the experienced novel-reader, but it provides the outline of a plot on which Miss Carr can hang her sketches of modern life. The novel is written with a good deal of care, for which in these days of hasty book-making grateful acknowledgment should be made.
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