By B. M. CROKER
266 pages, sizes, 7½ × 5, cloth, 3 stampings, $1.00
“The Real Lady Hilda,” by B. M. Croker, is a very pleasing novel, depending for its interest not upon sensational incident, but upon a clever portrayal of disagreeable traits of character in high society. The story is told by a young lady who finds herself with her stepmother in obscure lodgings in an obscure country town. The head of the family had been physician to a Rajah in India, had lived in princely style and had entertained in princely fashion. He had died and left to his widow and child nothing but a small pension, and they soon found themselves in straightened circumstances. Besides the character drawing, the entertaining feature of the story lies in the shabby treatment which the two impecunious women receive from the people whom they have so royally entertained in India, and the inability of the widow, with her Indian experience, to understand it. Entertaining, too, is the fawning toadyism of the middle-class women, who disdainfully tip their noses and wag their tongues when they find that the poor women are neglected by the great lady in the neighborhood.
—The Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, June 1, 1899.
Mrs. Croker belongs to the group of English country life novelists. She is not one of its chief members, but she succeeds often in being amusing in a quiet, simple way. Her gentlefolk lack the stamp of caste, but the plots in which they are placed are generally rather ingenious. Of course, in a field so assiduously worked, one cannot look for originality. The present book is just what the author modestly calls it—a “sketch,” with the usual poor girl of good family and the equally familiar happy ending.—Mail and Express, May 1, 1899.
The Good Mrs. Hypocrite
By “RITA”
284 pages, size 7½ x 5, cloth, 3 stampings, $1.00
“Good Mrs. Hypocrite.” A study in self-righteousness, is a most enjoyable novel by “Rita.” It has little of plot, and less of adventure, but is the study of a single character and a narration of her career. But she is sufficiently unique to absorb the attention, and her purely domestic experiences are quite amusing. She is the youngest daughter of a Scotch family, angular as to form and sour as to feature. She had an aggressive manner, was selfish, and from girlhood set herself against all tenderness of sentiment. Losing her parents, she tried her hand as a governess, went to her brother in Australia, returned to England and joined a sisterhood in strange garb, and her quarrelsome disposition and her habit of quoting scripture to set herself right made her presence everywhere objectionable. For this old maid was very religious and strict as to all outward forms. Finally she went to live with an invalid brother. She discharged the servant, chiefly because she was plump and fair of feature, and she replaced her with a maid as angular as herself, straight from Edinbro’. The maid was also religious and quoted scripture, and the fun of the story lies in the manner in which the woman who had had her way so long was beaten by her own weapons.
-Bookseller, Newsdealer and Stationer, June 15, 1899.