Widnes Examiner. — 1902-05-16 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

NEW NOVELS,  MACMILLAN AND CO.—There is a fascinating frestinees in Miss Una L Silberrads new novel, "Princess Puck," (pp 410 60.) which the reader can hardly resist. It holds him to the story in pleasant bonds, the which he would not voluntarily break. " Princess Puck "is essentially a study of one person. Her three euitorcone of whom alone is really and truly her lover, though each of the three is temporarily fascinated, her aunt and cousins, and her vicar, though depicted firmly.are all subsidiary in interest to herself. The same remark applies to the local setting. We are told thet this represents East Angiii, but it might almost as well be written of any part of the English coast within a short railway journey of London, Wilholmina Alardy, familiarly know as " Bill " is Princess Puck indeed, active, efficient, and comprehending. She is a creature of infinite charm, but her passion for plain and grubby hard work, her alluring geniality and beautiful voice, are combined with such daring wit and unconventionality tbat it is easier to feel her fascination than to believe in her ultimate happiness even with Kit Harborough. Miss Si:berrad's feeling for the eternal youth of the world :is keen, and her power to express it unusual. At times thiKi expression is even intense, as when Wilhelmina electrifies (in very different degree and kind) all the guests.at a stiff tea-party by her ringing of a rare old love ditty, and in the description of the first meeting of Princess Puck and Kit. Humorous passages abound, and situations are never over-explained, and the English throughout is of excellent quality. Those people who have a liking for Crockett and who admired "The Raiders," will probably enjoy " The Dark o' the Moon," being certain further histories of the name folk. Like its predecessor it is full of incident, which is woven round the fortunes of the Faa's Hector, John and Joyce, while the hero, who tells the story, is of rather a wishy-washy type. Modestly enough he disclaims all preten,ion to heroism, but the reader cannot help wishing he would occasionally do something sufficiently gallant and daring as to justify his position in the story end to deserve the love which the charming Joyner bears for him. Th«ro are a large number of other characters playing subsidiary parts fairly well, but, if anything the book errs on the side of verbosity. The deeds of the Amazonian maid Marion could just as well be omitted, though the reader regrets to part with Eppie,her entertaining parent with a tongue as keen as her heart is tender, The Faa's themselves supply a current of keen interest, just as in the " Raiders " Presumably, we have now finished with them, for John, the Ring of Little Egypt, and Hector the outlaw both die fighting shoulder to shoulder in" The Dark o' the Moon" (pp .511,. 691.  —he incidents of Michael Ferrier, by E Frances Poynter (pp 307, 68), could easily be compressed hit° the ten or a dozen pages of an ordinary magazine story. There are only seven cberaaters of tbe slightest importance, and their individualities, though strongly marked, are not patticalarly original- The story has no moral, and no epigrammatic sayings or brilliant conversations, but the book is by no means a bad one. A poet, who is a genius. and a member of Parliament, who is commonplace, ." are rivals for the hand of a young girl -whose sole 'guardians are an elderly maiden lady and an absentee rake of a father. Despite the schemes of tne commonplace suitor's mother the girl accepts the genius In a quarrel, which takes place without the knowledge of any third person, the accepted lover more or less accidentally shoots his rival. The heroine hears the r truth from him, but marries him in spite of it. Remorse for the murder so works upon a contunipLive constitution that he dies soon after the marriage and just before the inquiries set on foot by the mother of tbe dead man have succeeded in bringing the crime home to him. By far the bestdrawn characters in the book are the consmonplace member of Parliament, a young man who has given up his life to the study of goad manners and the formation of correct tastes, and his clecer and superficial mother, who has devoted herself to the attainment of comfort and amusement for ber son and herself. A well-developed story, truthfully delineated characters, and correct English are things which should go far to make the book successful even it it does not show _signs of any great originality in conception or plot.