Many readers will remember with gratitude Miss Goudge's reconstruction of the life of Christ- God So loved The World. She now tells, with the same felicity the story of the life, the thought, and the work of St.Francis of Assisi. Her loving delineation of this " holy and humble man of heart " against the dazzling back-ground of life in thirteenth century Italy includes a description of the origin and influence of the Franciscan Order which he founded, and a plea for his ideals of blessed simplicity and singleness of heart, the recovery of which is so urgent and universal of our own times.