New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1884-03-20
NEW PUBLICATIONS.
TWO NOVELS.

nCO
5EsTIGIA. BY GEORGE FLEMING io"'' 'f'
Roberts Brothers 49, ~ osA
CALLED BACK. By HUGH CONWAY iono' PIP -'''
Miss Fletcher has produced In "Nestiga
novel in which the characters are better 'n@n w
Mot and the sentence Is better than the paragraph
There ia hardly enough vigor IN inc ouIln s
nf her characters. but she h"o 'oo
this and that trait Win s"o1s
srd adroit hand. The peevish mother Oh 'no
hero. the shrewd and tender-heartea ia'ner VI o
heroine. are admirable IN many ways ino nelV
and the heroine themselves are less successful
italia is one of those fowerlike. sensitive people
=; ,,it;rc ahout whom sentiment is ptto fall INTO
ort;mentalitv: and the author has not quite sue
oooda in keennr her upon the more artisticslde OF
,bo verga Like called Bach" Miss Iletcher
story deals with members OF secret So
ciety and turns upon an eplsoue Vi W
der II reveals tendency which promises W e,o"
npon the modern non-analytio novehS'. MINI
ism is practically the only attalnaole SUBSTITUTE
for the romance phases of medieval days. ana nc
who wonld introduce in his novel the mysterious
and the dramatic naturally turns to the records OF
.ociaiistic orqanization crimes and punishment.
Miss Fletcher has frightened her book by many
neat and incisive little aphOrlsms characteristic Oh
iublefemininc brain and worthy TO be remehoeieu,
II is said that when Mr.. Conway stolS u
"Caled Back (" was published In England IL"
months ago. there at first no delilahu "i'"'c
for the volume But an editor OF one Oh 'ho e'O0''
,yeeklies happened to read 1t through auu "i''0
a nararraph about it which appeared III MS oo'ui".
of gossin Therrupon arose great excitement ana
nrgent inquiries for the work Inc con-
seouence has been an enormous SAFE oi
tna hook for which it is rumored
that Mr.. Conway-otherwlse Mt fleceil'A
Farpus of Brstol-reccived only the modest sum OF
l., raa6ar of the American re-
mint will be disposed to wonder at this sudden
nonularitv. The story is written in reasonably
GOOD English; the plot is ingenious and well deVei-
oped . and there are some rather striking chapters
concerning a Siberian journey and its result ASIDE
from this there is nothing which justlhes much
commentator.
The hero is a young Englishman who becomes
blind and in an agony of Impotence uhoer
this affection rushes out into the sueet
one night 10 wander up and down aiohe'
He cropes his way back to what he supposes is his
own home his latch key fitting the keyhoe; but II
i strange house and he ascends the stairway only
hear woman's shrek of horror and other sounds
that indicate the commission of a murder Inc
ynurlerers seeing him enter, are about to take his
life lest ne should betray them; bat he cries out
that lie is blind and medical man who is present
confirms his statement. Hislife is spared and he is
led away INTO the streets of London III rounddoout
fashion How he afterward comes IN contact WIN
.hose nurderers who are all members of a Nihilist
societv how he RECEIVERS his sight and falls IN love
unvyittinelv with the woman who shrieked how
be finds ont after marriage that she has lost her
mind how he finds 1t for her under startling con-
ditious and sees the punishment of the murderer
all these things are related with some cleyeTness
and without too much of the detail which spoils
romance The narrative of the hero's journey in
Siberia and the description of murder, when for a
few moments his life hangs in the balance, show
some dramatic power.
a scanda Ions literary imposition has Just been
Il. hot in thp ShoDp of a