New-York tribune., 1903-02-22
FICTION.
PIE JOYS AND SORROWS OF A WOMAN
OF GENIUS.


pp. 3S6. Funk & WagnallS Co.
TOLD BY THE DEATHS HEAD. Romantic
Tale by Maurus Jokal IrapslatTTIb asi Tba oSaaldeId
Boggs. Illustrated Rmo fp 5fo' Inc ''a''
Publishing Company.
Mrs. Thurstons novel has the special merit OF
.rasenting = more or less conventional theme
with a certain freshness. Her heroine Is the
daughter of a Russian exile bookworm anu
dealer in curios in London The motheriess GIRL
Anna Sclny, is left to her own oeVIces oS hei
absent minded father, and grows up III 'ie
musty little house with no opportunities 10 ieaii
what life means in any broad sense WHEN INC
book opens she is still in her teens' pul SIG
thrsts for excitement with thirst more chdi
acteris.ic of a much older individual. This is
explained by the flame Of genius that purhs III
her ature A break in the placidity OF her lie
comes when, on impulse, she gives sheiter "
a man fleeing from a mob, and out OF the episode
there flow events completely changing her en-
viroument and her work in the world FROM
the ignorant companion of a self ABSORBED olo
scholar she is transformed into the most plH-
liant actress of her time. She Is carrleo idi
from the scene of her Childhood ana Inc ihhS
of sentiment binding her to 1t seem 10 De per
nanently broken. But the author Is resoi'eu
that her heroine shall describe kind OF circle
In her experience, embracing incidents ana emo
tions of the most diverse character, and ulti-
stance and feeling, to the old shop with ITS IN
animate curiosites and its hardly less curious
living inmates One purpose Of the book is to
show the inexorable interdependence OF all the
acts in the career of a human being put the
book is chiefly interesting as story in the strict
sense of the word
Annals adventures are sufficiently picturesque,
but they are set forth with an ease and piausl-
bility that keep from noticing too often that
they are more picturesque than natural. one
is an interesting personality, and in one respect
especially Mrs Thurston portrays her with
almost superhuman restraint. This woman OF
genius suddenly transplanted firm obscurty to
renown, from humdrum household 10 stage
rpon which she wins the highest triumphs Of the
actress is presented to first and last as a
woman, pre- and simple! We all know the GUS
tom of the novelist dealing with a great artist
of either sex. He drags in the obvious tricks OF
genius and the spectacular aspects OF It's pubic
performances, in season and out OF season MIS-
sThurston is content to let her reader take great
deal of this sort of thing for granted with the
result that her book gains in effect Anna per-
yades the book but the subsidiary figures are
not neglected or i'll drawn. The least credible
of them is the woman who takes the girl from
the curiosity shop and trains her for a great
career Mrs Maxstead is new Mrs. Leo Hun
ter a woman, who not only has passion for
celebrities, but deliberately makes money out OF
her relations with them. When she takes Anna
under her wing it is with the understanding
that while she is to pay all Of the expenses of
her protege for the first five years, the moment
the latter begins to appear in public she is to
hand over a large percentage of her earnings as
interest upon the investment made in her gifts.
AS though this scheme were not cold blOoded
enough, Just it stands, Mrs. Thurston ex-
hibits her heroine being coerced by dire
threats into accepting il. Somehow the device
does OF ring true, and Mrs. MaXstead through
out the hook is, in fact anything but convinc-
ing. This is the TO be regretted, as, with
little invention the author could surely have
worked out her plot in much rational
manner. Mrs Maxstead's cold and calculating
ways not, after all, indispensable. Yet
can overlook them for the sake of the general
excellence of this novel.
"The Needles Eye" threatens in the tone of
fits earlier chapters, to develop into an example
of that wearisome form of fiction, sermon dis
guised as a novel 1t ends by leaving a differ
sermon is there, undoubtedly, but it is not OBJ
trusive; one becomes interested in the charac-
ters for the sake of their very human qualities
and the narrative narrative is well invented
aud well told. Though the author leans, per-
haps, too heavily upon coincidence she Goes not
become artificial. The finding of the hero in
the arms of his dead mother by hard hearted