MRS. ASQUITH'S BOOK

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 35, 5 November 1920, Page 7

MRS. ASQUITH'S BOOK

LITERARY SENSATION OF THE YEAR

INDISCRETIONS CONDEMNED IN REVIEWS (By Tel«sra.Dh--Prc»a ABBOoiation-Oopyrftht (Bee. November 4,11.10 p.m.) London, November 4. The first volume of Mrs. Margot Asquith's autobiography, for which tho writer received .£13,000, has been published. The book is the literary stnsation of the year, despite the fact that long extracts; have been previously published 6i>rialiy._ The newspapers are publishing roviews running into many columns, generally protesting against tho utterly false (picture of London life and the lack of proper reticence in retailing ne;sunal_ reminiscences of living notability Nevertheless, the 'extraordinary vanity ol' tht author and her' capacity for self-revelation make the book interesting reading. It includes accounts of numberless flirtations and piquant sketches of such men as Mr. Gladstone, Mr. tlalfour. Lord Hosebery, Dr. Jowett, Lord Cm 7011, Lord Tennyson, Lord Aforlev, and her own husband.

A mini l.'i-r of denials of Marmot Is statements have been already published, inehidin.!,' one by Lady Gwendolen Cecil, who points out that her father, Lord Salisbury had been dead for a year before tl.e conversation which Mnrgot describes in detail. Sir Sidney Colvin ilntly (ienies the ugly allegations against ■R. L. Stevenson and his wife. Mr. Winston Chmchill, who has published a long review of the book, denies tho accuracy of Mrs. Asquith's picturesque account of the British Cabinet, awaiting the declaration of war sitting smoking and

saying nothing. "When the (dock 011 the mantelpiece hammered out twelve ivo were at war." Mr. Churchill ooints out that the war commenced at eleven. Tlio "Morning Post" describes tho book aH "M'af.ice in Blunderland." ' The "Daily Chroniclo" says it is a "pot nourri of indiscretions."—Ans.-N.Z. Cable Assn.