New-York tribune., 1905-02-05

Nurlously, Mr.. Hichens is we shouId cav an
ahuhoantly sophisticated writer. -vet tbara &c
sincerity about THE Garden of Allah, which
| 4aAes the desert panorama of which it so
,...' coiisists seem a thoroughly genuine
'hihg. Certainly he makes US realize its heat
anu It's cold, its light and its shade its beauty
anu It's terror, its solitude and its vivid life
ana through every phase of his pictorial analv-
Sis ne brings to the surface in all its noisoa 10y
'he mysterious force in the desert which seizes
upon human beings and resistlessly governs
thelr passions and their lives
Inc heroine of the book, Domini Enflden is
He uaughter of a woman with English and
iuilsoildh Dlood IN her veins, whose husband
Lord Rens, has loved her so distractedly that
he has willingly turned Catholic for her sake
"hen Lady Rens, a gypsy type elopes with a
hungarian violinist, her husband sinks into
athelsm, and Domini grows up not only in
| the shadow of domestic tragedy, but under
circumstances which foster the unconventional
two. when her father dies and provided with
an ample fortune, she goes abroad at the period
OF the opening Of this book in search of the
spiritual rest which as woman of character
and brains, she has come to crave with a great
longing She fancies that she may find it in the
desert, and settles down IN a hotel at Benz
Mora, an oasis in the Sahara, accompanied only
| relax into bodily and mental peace, but in the
train on the way from the coast to Beni-Mor
she comes into contact, in unpleasant fashion,
with a solitary traveller whom she presently
encounters again in her hotel and, though she
has no intention of allowing this man, Boris
AndTovsky, to come into her life. it is soon made
| plain to the reader that these two are destined
| to share the same fate, and that the desert is
to draw them together by its own implacable
processes. How they become acquainted and
| learn to love one another how there is i'm
plicated in their love element from which
events of the gravest import bound to de-
Velop, and how romance which seems at first
| to possess no more than the usual significance
of good love story is made by the author to
take the hues Of peculiarly solemn trag
edy the reader must find out for himself Mr..
Hichens keeps his secret well, unfolding his
drama with uncommon deliberation. and we will
not spoil the fine effect which he gains by his
reserve. All that we need insist upon is that
the upshot of his novel makes it very much
| worth while to follow with patience the
gradual evolution of his idea
It is not, perhaps. a wholly original idea.
Something like the hero-s agony OF soul goes to
form the substance of a certain classic in Amer
lean fiction which the reader quickly Identifies.
But there is originality in every one of the
countless little strokes with which Mr.. Hichens
builds up his portraits of hero and heroine. Also
there sympathy, emotion and that artistic
ability which leaves a character in fiction
definite and consistent figure Domini and Boris
are alive, and so. for that matter, is every one
else in the book. Suzanne Charpot the maid,
and Batouch the native guide. with his kins-
man, Hadj, distinctly subordinate actors in
the drama but they are realized clearly as
any Of the important personages-Count
Anteoni the enigmatc Italian in whose en-
chanted garden some of the best scenes areslaid;
the two priests, whose shares in the action are
comparatively Slight but still momentous; and
the other individuals who are brought on the
stage either to render fruitful services or TO
enrich the tale with even more color and move
ment. Where we feel the want of genius is, of
course, where would most appreciate its
presence, in the two leading characters There
is something family Fictitious about Domini and
Boris They not universal types They do
not convince U.s. the characters of the masters
do, that might meet people very like them in
the world Nevertheless, they quite human
enough to inspire confidence in the authenticity