28 AUGUST 1909, Page 23

The Lady Calphurnia Royal. By Albert Dorrington and A. (3.

Stephens. (Mills and Boon. es.)—This book is advertised as con- taining thrilling adventures. It is certainly horrible enough in parts to satisfy any one with a morbid appetite for accounts of cruelty, but the adventures are too badly put together and too confused to make the book really good reading. Calpharnia herself is not credible, and it is difficult to take any interest in Jean Barradas, the hero. There is a graphic account of life in a French convict settle- ment, which it can only be hoped is exaggerated.