dedicated to Sr. Dn. Juan Clemente Zenea, editor of _La Charanga_,
Havana. Our authoress says in her dedication: 'It is to you, therefore;
and those who like you have deeply felt, that the history of a woman's
soul-life will prove more interesting than the mere narrative of the
chances and occurrences that make up the every-day natural existence.'
Naomi is a woman of artistic genius and passionate character, becalmed
in the stagnation of conventional life, who, throwing off the fetters of
an uncongenial and inconsiderate marriage, attempts to find happiness
and independence in the cultivation of her own powers. She is eminently
successful as prima donna, is brilliant and self-sustained--but fails to
attain the imagined happiness, the Love-Eden so fervently sought.

MARGARET AND HER BRIDESMAIDS. By the Author of 'The Queen of the
Country,' 'The Challenge,' etc. 'Queen Rose of the Rosebud garden
of girls.'--_Tennyson_. Loring, publisher, 314 Washington street,
Boston. 1864.

A novel of domestic life, in which the plot, apparently simple, is yet
artistic and skilfully managed. The thread of life of the bridesmaids is
held with that of the bride, the development of character, distinctly
marked in each, progresses through a series of natural events, until the
young people reach the point of life when impulse settles into
principle, amiability into virtue, generosity into self-abnegation, and
we feel that each may now be safely left to life as it is, that
circumstance can no longer mould character, and are willing to leave
them, certain they will henceforth remain true to themselves, and to
those whose happiness may depend upon them, whatever else may betide.
The bride is a pure, sweet, generous woman, but the character of the
book is decidedly Lotty. Childish, petite, and indulged, she is yet
magnanimous, brave, and self-sacrificing; fiery, fearless, and frank,
she is still patient, forbearing, and reticent; we love her as child,
while we soon learn to venerate her as woman. She and her docile
bloodhound, Bear, form pictures full of magic contrast, groups of which
we never tire. The cordiality and heartiness of her admiring relatives,
the Beauvilliers, are contagious; we live for the time in their life,
and grow stronger as we read. The book is charming. Its moral is
unexceptionable, its characters well drawn, its plot and incidents
simple and natural, and its interest sustained from beginning to end.