The New York herald., 1922-04-30


Las Srdgwick Houghton, Mifflin
Company.
"A EIss SEDGwICK has given
IN US in "Adrienne Toner" an
extraordinary book. She has,
tr my mind, exceeded in the skill
and insight with which she has
portrayed her heroine even the re-
markabie performance achieyed by
her '-Tante-.. t-Tante" was simple
problsrh bs the side Of "Adrisnne."
for one thing. and Miss sedgwick
IS a writer who grows with each
book Her style is more flexible.
richer without the slightest loss of
clarity. and her still, contained hu-
NOR ripper than ever before.
First and most decidedly. she has
a story TO tell. There is suspense in
her narrative, a high dramatic quail
ity to the clash Of characters and
the events precipitated by this clash.
You are conscious of your interest,
t grows tense, and your emotions
are so strongly engaged that it is
difficult 10 lay the volume aside.
Difficult because of the sheer real
ity of these lives whose development
is revealed with so subtle a SYM
partly. so surprising an understand
ing. The breath of life emanates
from the pages, and it is Intoxicating
to breathe IT, Then there is the
compelling figure of Adfienne. Here
is. indeed, an original character: a
woman curiousIy ordinary. 'des-
perateiy usual" as one of her ac-
1uaintances expresses it, yet amaz-
ing. Capable of the tremendous. A
creature wrapped up in conceit.
deadly sure OF herself. a dangerous
egoist because of her conviction that
she is unalterably right. yet one who
can be utterly selfless and whose
passion is the desire to bring happi-
ness. to do good. Life can make
strange play with such a being. And
life exerts itself in this story. where,
before it is over. every phase of
Adrienne is shown. and all the pos
sibilities of her nature find fulfill
ment. We see her through many
eyes. even through her own. And if
AZ the beginning we could not un-
derstand how Barney fell in love, at
the end we comprehend easily
enough Oldmeadow's amazing devo-
ton.
But who is Adrienne. and what is
his story OF hers?
Like most OF Hiss Sedgwick,s
books. the scene is England. The
comfortable. well-bred. delightful
England of people who do not per-
haps have much money. but who
have distinguished profiles. easy
manners, country homes. London in
terests and whose lives are rich in
culture and healthy with exercise in
the open. The England that was
before the war, and which. in spite
Of all the dark representations. still
exists. even If in modified form.
The book begins in 1918. very early
II the spring. 1t classes with the
ending OF the war. But the war does
rot enter TO any particular degree.
Il is swept up in few para
sraphs. with its havocs and simpli-
fleations. The drama has been
brought 10 its climax before the war
touches more than lightly the lives
n the persons who have made it. 1t
is only the last act that the four
dreadful years affect-but though
this act does not change to any i'm
portant degree the situation de-
veloped in the two first. it completes
Adrienne.
Adrienne is an American. She
comes, as much as anywhere. from
California, though the fortune she
inherited was made in Chicago. and
her mothers people lived in Maine.
IN a small farmhouse. The father
had died early. The mother and
daughter, with plenty Of money and
plenty Of high aspirations. wandered
over the world The mother was one
II The nnnst snL1If,.1 - -. - L.