It might seem on the face of it that a book describing faithfully and affectionately the life of a large English household, and especially the days and ways of its four children and their devoted governess, would have an appeal for all domestically minded persons. But ["Shepherdess of Sheep"] cannot be recommended quite so generally. To enjoy it without a number of reservations one should be not only a woman (men, definitely, lay off) but a very, very womanly woman; should, moreover, be a woman who admires self-sacrifice, no matter how futile, for its own sake; and should further be one who thinks that modern ideas of therapy for abnormal children are all tosh—that, for instance, the treatment for a budding pyromaniac should have nothing to do with doctors and sanitaria but should be confined to an increasing dosage of love, love, love.

Any one unable to...