OTHER NOVELS
' The Naked Man. By Vere Hutchinson: (Jonathan Cape. 78. 6d. net.)—Miss Hutchinson's new novel stands or falls oh the measure of success with which she presents the character of Luke Baddock. The book is also of very timely interest since her hero is a miner, and many sidelights are afforded of the perils and drawbacks of .a miner's life. The motive of the story is Luke's longing for a 'country life, of which he once had a brief glimpse, cut short by his father's sudden death and the necessity for supporting his mother. The early struggle in Luke's temperament and the later degradation of his character through the hideous circumstances of his life as a miner are finely depicted. But the chapteii which describe how at last, but too late, he becomes master of the small farm on which he had first realized his seeret longings, do not-ring quite true. The same may be said of the concluding scenes with his neglected wife, Maggie.. The book, however, is a serious attempt at character drawing, and for that reason deserves attention.
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