New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1909-11-27
Stories by NesobOh, Marriott
and Others.

Emo. Ir. a-H. T. J. D4lloh a ~
THE NEST OF THE sPARRowiH5sATrKRa
Bv Baroness Orczy Emo, PIP sly. iAe
T.. A Stokes COMPANY
wHEN A WOMAN WOES. BY Charles
Marriott. l-mo, pp. SS5. The Johh Lane
Company.
EvERYBoDYs SECRET BY Dion Clay AZ,
ton CalthrOp. l2mo, PIP oia- Inc u W
Dillingham; Company.
AS TT HAPPENED. BY Ashton Hilliers.
I2mo, pI. sl- q. i. Putnam SONS
We welcome with delight Mr.. New
bolt's book for il is not that easily
manufactured. irresponsible nondescript.
an Historical romance" hut legitimate
historical novel. a serious piece Of work
undertaken after thorough preparation
end caIried through with signal skill.
There is nothing merc;ricious about its
Workmanship no glittoring generalities
dcceptively hiding lack Of real knowl-
edge OF times and ways and customs, no
Fictitious use OF archaisms, no display OF
easy lsarning The author creates the
spirit and the atmosphere and the re-
Rlities Of the end Of the fourteenth CEN
fury in England and on the Continent.
not by endcaNorinE 10 bring them down
10 us, torn from their wider environment,
not by explaining them 20 Us. but by
taking us INTO them bodily. by adapting
our methods az thought and speech and
action 10 their circumstances, 10y in
Niting US 10 bc al home among medieval
gentlemen Of whom and Of whose ways
we have already a considerable previous
knowledge. Thus he succeeds in making
a hawking party as real 10 us as a days
shooting over "a game preserve in TWEEN
I
preparation for a tourney and its event
as real as a modern athletic meet. and
the plottinEs of the Council Of Three
as vivid as Bismarckian policies. The
reader Is always convinced that he is
part OF the action. he is a contemporary,
he is helping 10 make history that was
made five hundred years ago; the
picturesqueness of il al becomes the
serious, hard business Of life TO him.
The illusion is complete. and is never
disturbed by a single false touch. neither
in the stern affairs of men nor in the
element Of woman and love that is not
lacking. THE New June" is a book that
one takes pleasure in recommending. II
is gooe art.
In The Nest Of the Sparrowhawk"
we find grim melodrama. the period, the
place and the very season having been
carefully selected 10 add each its share
10 the final effect, which is decidedly
greWsome. The plot is one Of lost heirs,
OF a ruined heir-apparent and Of des-
perate planning for the possession Of
young girls fortune and a young mans
ruin. The time is that Of Cromwell %
The hand Of the Puritan lying heavy on
the spirit Of England. suppressing nat
ural joyfulness and in its stead allow
ing dark passions TO grow unseen. The
place Is the Keutish coast; the season.
bleak winter. bringing a binding snow
storm 10 cloak the catastrophe Even
Tho spirits 81 the cavaliers are damped
hy thc omniprcscnt reprossive power Of
rho masters of the land. one doubts the
ability Of the country squire 10 play the
graceful deception asCribed TO him. OF
even 10 invent IT, hut, as has been
said. this is mclodrama. which demands
for its success "a receptive frame of mind
To those. then. who love the gloom Of
dark passions. Of violence and stealthy
crime the story may Doe recommended;
h D. has postscript telling Of better days
IN when au had been ST riCht. and another
y Charles had come into his fathers heri-
tago. T. squander and Gchase it, The
book. one would think has in il the
making ~ a play; il is about time for
return from the "noveliz,d" drama to
tho dramatizod novel. "The Nest Of the
SrarroUlaUk" is M least equipped
with slight comic relief"
The simple direct way Of an infatua-
zion With "a man and woman-the
sequel proves Fl 10 Do genuine love
"a frst sight is set down i'm When
Woman Woos" with considerable insight.
but with "a fraukness that Yet might be
rsrdonablo-ou The principle that ans
N.oIl that ends well and that the COM
pHCat.5 case of tho heroinc's refusal Of
marriage through pride and conscience
and yerr loyo places her in no danger
thanks 20 the mans innate chivalIy-
were il not for the ineXcusable sordid-
ness of tho -militu ina which their ro-
nance is set for the authors insistence
on the dotasing influence Of narrow
means and narrow circumstances. and
81 misfortune. ON The character. the out
look 0n Die and the standards Of con-
duct ~ weak men and women. There
T. something Zolassque. VI, at least,
something of Tho George Moore Of A
NGmmcr's Wife" In This pitiloss dis
section Of a weak father and a dipso-
mauaic mother. of "a young daughter
willingly offered ia future marriage 10
man whose wife is slowly dying 81 an
trcurable illness something abnormal
81 the steadiness Of the authors scalpcl.