SATANELLA.

Otago Witness, Issue 2401, 8 March 1900, Page 64

SATANELLA.

By G. WIIYTE-MmATLLE,

Melbourne: Ward, Lock, and Co. Dun-

edin : Whitcombs and Tombs-.

Of a different time, redolent of a different world, ar.d written m a very different style to the foregoing, " Satanella "' yet comes under the same category — a racing or sporting novel. The world of WhyteMelville is peopled, however, by such a different class, the author's cultured, reflective style is so removed from liawley Smart's simple ingenuous narrative, that the book appeals to quite a different class of readers.

" Satanella, as: the beautiful dark Miss Douglas has been dubbed by her intimates, is as proud as Lucifer, as mysterious as an unsolved enigma. !She moves in the bast society, and has a host of admirers, some of v>iioin, excellent character studies in the writer's best vein, are prominent factors in the simple plot, for " Satanella " is one of Whyte-Melville's most unpretentious stories. Much of the scene is laid in Ireland, and the portrait of the charming Nora Macormac and her Irish surroundings is a capital bit of work.

Simple as the plot is, the book is never dull, for the writing is so excellent, the aspects of nature and human nature arc so delicatclv true to life, that the reader desires nothing better than the pleasant development from one chapter to another of the story of Blanche Douglas, even thougn its denouement is so touchingly sad.