5 DECEMBER 1931, Page 23

AMERICAN BEAUTY. By Edna Ferber. (Heinemann. 7s. 6d.)—Miss Ferber once

more proves herself a con- summate story-teller. She takes the very varied fortune; of a Connecticut farm founded by an Englishman in 1700, and tells of all its strange inhabitants vigorously, sensitively, and with a keen eye for detail and design.