A GIRL WHO WOULD BE QUEEN

By Professor Eric P. Kelly '06 and ClaraHoffmanowa. A. C. McClurg & Cos.,Chicago, 1939. pp. 201. $2.

"A Girl Who Would be Queen" is a completely fascinating account of life among the Polish nobility in the middle of the eighteenth century. It is a synthetic diary compiled, in the last century, by Clara Hoffmanowa from the letters and other writings of the Countess Francoise Krasinska whose secret marriage to the heir to the Polish throne so complicated the Polish Succession. It covers the years 1759-1761, describing Francoise's girlhood in her father's castle, her education in the "advanced" girl's school in Warsaw, her introduction to society where she became a belle, and her marriage to the Duke of Courland. To this "diary," Professor Kelly has added several introductory and explanatory chapters which furnish, for the American reader, a much-needed background in Polish history. He has so skillfully adopted the tone of Madame Hoffmanowa's work that the reader is not conscious of a break in the narrative.

The result is a delightful story. One may suspect the Countess of being a trifle more scheming than her editors will admit but one cannot deny the vivacity of her observations. Her account of her sister's wedding alone is worth the price of the book while her Polish hunting scene would certainly surprise the editors of "Field & Stream." This edition, so beautifully illustrated, is probably intended to attract the difficult 'teen age but it is certain that the parents will be unable to put it down.