"CHRISTMAS TREE"

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21698, 13 January 1934, Page 9 (Supplement)

"CHRISTMAS TREE"

SOME. BRILLIANT SKETCHES Among the younger writers of the day, Lady Eleanor Smith is rapidly consolidating her claims to leadership. Her latest ivork. " Christmas Tree," is more a collection of sketches than a novel, but it is brilliantly done. It has some of the structural qualities of " Grand Hotel " about it, but its outlook is delightfully English. The reader is introduced to a little group ol characters in search of Christmas trees in one of the huge London stores. An impoverished young society couple, a German schoolmistress, an Italian headwaiter, a city financier, a nondesciipt nobleman, a famous Russian actress and a timid young man. All buy their trees, and then the reader follows each and every little clump of fir to it; 3 destination in different parts of London, each one unfolding a tale of romance or pathos. Lady Eleanor Smith has a delightful style, graceful and unaffected. To her a Christmas tree can become a thing of romantic beauty, and she has the gift of conveying i;his sense of beauty through words. " Christmas Tree" may be a trifle in comparison with some of her earlier works, but it is a delightful trifle, nevertheless. "Christmae Tree," by Lady Eleanor Smith. (Macmilli.n.) .