“If ‘The Eleventh Commandment,’ the previous work of Barrili, was a good three-act play, ‘A Whimsical Wooing’ is a sparkling comedietta. It is one situation, a single catastrophe, yet, like a bit of impressionist painting of the finer sort, it reveals in a flash all the possibilities of the scene. The hero, Roberto Fenoglio, a man of wealth, position, and accomplishments, finds himself at the end of his resources for entertainment or interest. Hopelessly bored, he abandons himself to the drift of chance, and finds himself, in no longer space of time than from midnight to daylight—where and how, the reader will thank us for not forestalling his pleasure in finding out for himself.”—The Nation, New York.
“‘A Whimsical Wooing’ is the richly-expressive title under which ‘Clara Bell’ introduces a cleverly-narrated episode by Anton Giulio Barrili to American readers. It is a sketch of Italian life, at once rich and strong, but nevertheless discreet in sentiment and graceful in diction. It is the old story of the fallacy of trusting to a proxy in love matters.”—Boston Post.
William S. Gottsberger, Publisher, New York.
ERNESTINE.—A Novel, by Wilhelmine von Hillern, from the German by S. Baring-Gould, in two vols. Paper, 80 cts. Cloth, $1.50.
“‘Ernestine’ is a work of positive genius. An English critic has likened the conception of the heroine in her childhood to George Eliot’s Maggie Tulliver, and truly there is a certain resemblance; but there is in the piece a much stronger suggestion of George Eliot’s calm mastery of the secret springs of human action, and George Eliot’s gift of laying bare the life of a human soul, than of likeness between particular characters or situations here and those with which we are familiar in George Eliot’s works.”—New York Evening Post.
THE HOUR WILL COME.—A Tale of an Alpine Cloister, by Wilhelmine von Hillern, from the German by Clara Bell, in one vol. Paper, 40 cts. Cloth, 75 cts.
“‘The Hour Will Come’ is the title of a translation by Clara Bell from the German original of Wilhelmine von Hillern, author of that beautiful romance ‘Geier-Wally.’ ‘The Hour Will Come’ is hardly less interesting, its plot being one of the strongest and most pathetic that could well be imagined. The time is the Middle Ages, and Frau von Hillern has achieved a remarkable success in reproducing the rudeness, the picturesqueness and the sombre coloring of those days. Those who take up ‘The Hour Will Come’ will not care to lay it down again until they have read it through.”—Baltimore Gazette.