⸺ THE TRIUMPH OF FAILURE. Pp. 383. (Burns & Oates). [1899].
A sequel to the preceding. It is a close and sympathetic soul-study. Geoffrey loses all his worldly hopes and falls low indeed. He suffers the shipwreck of his faith. But in this valley of humiliation he learns strength to rise and conceives far different hopes, and we leave him on the heights of atonement and of regeneration. The book is philosophic in tone, and is enriched with many elevating thoughts from German, French, and English moralists. It is said to have been the Author’s favourite. It has been translated into many languages, e.g., French, under title Le succès dans l’échec (1906), and German as Der Erfolg des Misserfolgs (Press of the Missionaries of Steyl), M. 6.
⸺ MY NEW CURATE. Pp. 480. (Art and Book Co.). 6s. Eighteenth ed. Eighteen rather poor illustr. [1899]. New ed. (Longmans), 2s. 6d. 1914. (Boston: Marlier). 1.50.
Into a sleepy, backward, out-of-the-way parish comes a splendid young priest, cultured, energetic, zealous, up-to-date. He succeeds in many reforms, but the moral of the whole would seem to be, “Nothing on earth can cure the inertia of Ireland,” or rather, perhaps, “You cannot undo in a day the operations of 300 years.” The old parish priest tells the story. There is in the book intimate sympathy with, and love of, the people, their humours, and foibles, and virtues. There is plenty of very humorous incident. Delightful moralizings, like those in the Author’s Under the Cedars and the Stars. It is full of undidactic lessons for both priests and people. The religious life of the people is, of course, much dwelt on, and a good deal of light is thrown on the private life of the priests. Transl. into French (Mon nouveau vicaire), Dutch (Mijn nieuwe kapelaan, by M. van Beek, 1904), German (Mein neuer Kaplan, Bachem, M. 6.), Italian, Spanish (Mi nuevo coadjutor, Herder), Hungarian, Slovene, Ruthenian.
⸺ LUKE DELMEGE. Pp. 580. (Longmans). 6s. 1901.
The life-story of a priest. The main theme of this great novel is the setting forth of the spiritual ideals of the race and of the heights of moral beauty and heroism to which these ideals can lead. A strong contrast is drawn between the ideals which the hero sees at work around him during his stay in England, and those which he finds at work at home. Many phases and incidents of Irish life are shown—the home-life of the priest, the eviction, the funeral, scenes in Dublin churches, the beauty of Irish landscape. One of the best, if not the best, of Irish novels. Yet as a “problem” novel it is strangely inconclusive. Luke seems to die with his life-questions unanswered. Trans. into French, Luke Delmege, âmes celtiques et âmes saxonnes; German, Lukas Delmege, trans. Ant. Lohr. (Habbel), M. 6, 1906, sixth ed.; and Hungarian. Canon Sheehan used to say of this book that its central idea was the doctrine of vicarious atonement.
⸺ GLENANAAR. Pp. 321. (Longmans). 6s. [1905]. New ed., 1915. 2s. 6d.
“Tainted blood, inherited shame, is a terrible thing amongst a people who attach supreme importance to these things.” This is, perhaps, the central theme of the story. The narrative opens in 1829 with the famous Doneraile Conspiracy trial in Cork, when O’Connell, summoned in hot haste from Derrynane, was just in time to save the lives of the innocent prisoners. The story traces to the third generation the strange fortunes of the descendants of one of the informers in this trial. There are glimpses of the famine of ’48 and of the spirit of the men of ’67. The story of Nodlag is a touching and beautiful one, and the episode of the returned American is very well done. Trans. into German, Das Christtagskind (Steyl: Mission Press), M. 2.50.
⸺ THE SPOILED PRIEST, and Other Stories. Pp. 213. (Gill and Burns & Oates). 5s. Nine illustr. by M. Healy. 1905.