The Belmont Book. By " Vados." (Smith, Elder and Co.
6s.)— This book is not properly a novel, being a series of more or less disconnected papers on the life lived by two Americans in a Norman village. It is at least to be concluded that both the writer and her husband are American, hough definite information on this point is given only as to the husband. The author, in spite of not being a Frenchwoman, seems to be exceptionally successful in penetrating the reserve of the Norman peasant, and making friends with him and his family. She is also ex- ceptionally learned as regards Norman history, and gives many side views as to the personages who lived in the Middle Ages and later in that part of the country about which she is writing. There is an appalling chapter on witches and their punishments in the seventeenth century. The latter, as described by "Vados," are enough to make twentieth century readers thankful for the date at which they were born. Mr. Arnold Bennett contributes an introduction to the book, in which he claims much insight into human nature for the writer. It is certainly a work of consiler- able charm, and well repays reading.
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