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The Tall Villa, by "Lucas Malet" (12mo, 256 pages; Doran). A husband in South America, a ghostly lover, and a "wide-eyed, fragile, and excessively lovely" lady ring a fresh variation on the eternal triangle in this story of love in the fourth dimension. It is the last straw in spiritism—and about the last straw from "Lucas Malet."

Where Angels Fear to Tread, by E. M. Forster (12mo, 283 pages; Knopf), is trite only in title. This is what Meredith and the gallery would respectively term comedy and tragedy. With somersaults of motive and swift satire the story makes its way from England to Italy, where childlike sinfulness and the sunshine of mediaeval towns are refreshing after the irritated misunderstandings of the English family who rushed in.

Hand-Made Fables, by George Ade (illustrated, 12mo, 332 pages; Doubleday, Page), are so many essays on Compensation. They deal with such worldly assets and liabilities as time's whirligig turns topsy-turvy; and, whatever their individual prejudices—each fable has at least one robust American prejudice—collectively they maintain a genial optimism regarding man's plight in the world as it is. Here Mr. Ade once more demonstrates that the American slang vernacular has capacities for clearness, force, and (yes!) elegance that quite escape the base-ball reporter.

Some Personal Impressions, by Take Jonescu (12mo, 292 pages; Stokes), is reminiscent of the illusioned time when diplomats were regularly called "distinguished." The author, sometime Prime Minister of Roumania, had all the notabilities of Europe on his calling list, and most of them got into the book one way or another.

Portraits of American Women, by Gamaliel Bradford (illustrated, 12mo; 276 pages; Houghton Mifflin, Boston), is a series of politely written impressions of seven New England women and one Middle Westerner, drawn for the most part from letters and diaries. The portraits are far from clear, and Abigail Adams and Margaret Fuller would be chagrined to know how dim they have become, even to an admirer.