Louise de la Ramée -- also known as Ouida -- was a remarkable nineteenth century writer, with a heck of a range -- she published classic adventure novels, like Under Two Flags; but she also wrote lots of essays -- and wonderfully charming books for children. Her children"s work is nothing adult readers should feel shy of; Ouida"s children"s fiction has an enduring and endearing quality that makes the pages sing. This novel, The Village Commune, is more adult than childish, but it"s an odd thing when you consider it as a novel. In some ways, it"s a political argument, couched as a novel -- interesting stuff, especially for those who want to examine the sorts of thought that gave rise to twentieth-century political experiments.