⸺ WHERE THE ATLANTIC MEETS THE LAND. Pp. 268. (Lane). 3s. 6d. net. 1896.
Sixteen stories, many of them artistically constructed, and told with literary grace and finish. The Irish character is viewed from an unsympathetic and, at times, hostile standpoint. Only a few of the stories deal with the peasants or have any special bearing on Irish life. Two or three deal with seduction in rather a light manner.
LIPSETT, E. R.
⸺ DIDY. Pp. 301. (Duckworth). 6s. $1.30. Eight full-page Illustr. by Joseph Damon. 1912.
Published in U.S.A. by the John Lane Co., N.Y., under the title of The House of a Thousand Welcomes (price 1.50), this being the name of a boarding house in New York opened by Mr. and Mrs. Dunleary and their daughter Didy, who have emigrated from Cork. The story is chiefly concerned with the lodgers in this house—the eccentric Dr. O’Dowd, a journalist, and the son of a big landlord in Ireland—all of whom fall in love with Didy. The last named is successful, and he makes the journalist, a Protestant named Healy (the remainder of the personages are Catholics), editor of the principal Irish Unionist paper, which he owns, in order “to make it a message of peace to all Ireland.” The author avoids religious or political bias, and tells a merry, good-humoured story.
“LISTADO, J. T.”
⸺ MAURICE RHYNHART. Two Vols. (Chapman & Hall). 1871.
“Or, A few passages in the life of an Irish rebel.” The hero, descended from a Williamite soldier, “in every respect the very model of a respectable young Protestant,” is a clerk in Selskar (Wexford) and in love with Miss Rowan, socially much above him. An ardent young Irelander, he joins the local branch and works might and main for the movement. Soon he is “on his keeping,” but escapes to London. There he marries Miss Rowan. After many hardships they go to Australia, where he rises to be Premier and is knighted. Returns, and is made M.P. for Selskar. Reminds one of the career of Sir C. Gavan Duffy. Splendidly told, the interest never flagging. Protestant dissenting tea-parties hit off cleverly. The whole atmosphere of the critical summer of ’48 is reproduced with vividness and fidelity. Dialogue good and characterisation life-like.
LOCHHEAD, A.
⸺ SPRIGS OF SHILLELAH. Pp. 158. (Dundee: Leng). 1907. 6d.