nding, this is not, I gather, likely to be removed
by the airmen themselves, for they have evidently imbibed some of the
spirit of our Navy and are magnificently reluctant to talk about their
achievements. But this reticence has its dangers, and Mr. BOYD CABLE
has set to work to remove them. Here he has written nothing for which
he cannot find "an actual parallel fact." I honestly believe him and
commend his book both to those who have a passion for tales of high
adventure and also to those--if there are such--who need authentic
instances of what our Airmen O' War have done for us.

* * * * *

The best I can honestly say of _Tony Heron_ (COLLINS) is that it
has all the makings of a good novel, but unfortunately stops there,
unmade or rather unvitalized. It is the tale of a boy's upbringing
by a sternly antagonistic father, of his growth to maturity, his love
affairs, and in due course his relations with his own son. All the
events happen that are proper to a scheme of this type; but somehow,
despite the fact that Mr. C. KENNETT BURROW wields a practised and
often picturesque pen, the whole affair remains a literary exercise
and declines to come alive. Perhaps in justice I should except two
characters, _Roland_, the sturdy-son born out of wedlock to _Tony_,
and _Phil_, weakling child of old _Heron_ by a second marriage. Both
these and the relation of the pair to each other furnish a pleasant
contrast to the anaemia which seems to affect the rest of the tale.
Stay, there is yet another, _Kenrick_, the private tutor of _Tony_,
whose treatment by the author is at least vigorous. I found him just a
little surprising. A creature, we are told, over fond of good food and
wine, who, dining with his pupil on the latter's sixteenth birthday
and attempting convivial airs, is shown his place with a promptitude
recalling the best manner of the eighteenth century. Subsequently,
one gathers, he took to chronic alcoholism, combined with amateur
blackmail; and a final appearance shows the fellow dribbling wine
over the evening shirt, to whose wear the author is at pains to tell
us he was unused. Clearly a low race, these tutors, about whom I seem
hitherto to have been strangely misinformed.

* * * * *

Captain ROBERT B. ROSS has made excellent business of _The Fifty-First
in France_ (HODDER AND STOUGHTON). In any case there could be no
doubts about the merits of this famou