CHARLOTTE LOWENSKoLD. A Tale of Modern Sweden. By Selma Lagerlof.
(T. Werner Laurie. 10s. 6d.) —This idyllic story by the distinguished winner of the Nobel prize for literature has the fresh flavour of wild strawberries. There is something of the fairy-tale—the Nordic fairy-tale— in the sudden simplicities of the psychology. Things are so easily sent wrong, so rapidly made right : people are so credulous, so frankly and instantly angry or glad or sorry. Could the young pastor, with all his exalted notions, immed- iately repudiate his dear love, and behave at once like a cad and a saint ? Could the mischief-maker, the organist's
wife, be as easily successful as a Hans Andersen witch Could the spirited Charlotte Li5wenskOld endure so much calumny and insult and vain sacrifice, because the holy Karl Arthur is " so gifted " ? And even had she been guilty of the sin imputed to her, is jilting a lover a crime against the community ? The answer is yes—once you are acclimatized
to the cool air, dark pines, and bright flower gardens and childlike assumptions of this Northern countryside where nobody is an introvert. The first chapter, describing the early life of the Baroness and her adored son, is really an admirable short story in itself. But all the gently absurd, talkative people are very much alive, and the happy ending glows with an artless good humour. The Dalar girl is an odd bright figure peculiar to the scene. The buying in " of the pauper children reveals the darker side of this rural life. Altogether, this is a clear cordial book, astir with a lively sense of humour.
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