Three American Novels

Three American Novels.

There is a pretty idea behind Mr. Booth Tarkington's little story of "The Beautiful Lady" (John Murray, 2s. 6d.). It deals with a young Italian who was made a mark of public scorn in Paris and was pitied by only one person, a charming American girl, whose love-story with a nice American boy he helps to bring to a happy conclusion.–Very different in atmosphere but equally pleasing is Mr. John Fox, junior's idyll of "The Kentuckians" (Constable, 3s. 6d. net.), which tells of the rivalry in politics and love of two Kentucky young men–the one a gentleman with every advantage of birth and wealth, the other a mountaineer whose only original asset was his force of character. Just the right amount of local color is supplied in Mr. Fox's vivid accounts of clan feuds and state politics in Kentucky.–"The Colonel's Dream" (Constable, 6s.), the work of Mr. Charles Chesnutt, is a more serious piece of work, for it describes with a wealth of well-observed detail and no little pathos the attempt of a reformer, and the failure of his attempt, to grapple with the colour-problem in the Southern States of America.