Eight stories. The title-story gives a glimpse of the workings of an ecclesiastical seminary, and also of the Irish peasants’ attitude towards a student who has been refused ordination. “Remanded” is the story, founded on fact, of a hero-priest of Cork. “The Monks of Trabolgan” is a curious, fanciful story of Ireland at some future period. The remaining tales, “Rita, the Street Singer,” “A Thorough Gentleman,” and “Frank Forest’s Mince-Pie,” &c., do not deal with Ireland. Has been transl. into German and Dutch.
⸺ LOST ANGEL OF A RUINED PARADISE. Pp. vi. + 168. (Longmans). 3s. 6d.
Three schoolgirls on leaving college take part in tableau as Parcae or Fates. They announce in make-believe the fates of their companions. A mysterious voice from the audience announces their own. The story tells how their fates worked out. The first part of the drama takes place in Dublin, but after a time the scene shifts to London. Transl. into French as Ange égaré d’un paradis ruiné.
⸺ LISHEEN; or, the Test of the Spirits. Pp. 454. (Longmans). 6s. 1907. New ed., 1914, 2s. 6d.
The conception is that of Tolstoi’s Resurrection, with the scene transferred to Kerry. It is the story of how a young man of the Irish landlord class determines to put to the test of practise his ideals of altruism. To this end he abandons the society of his equals and lives the life of a labourer. He finds how full of pain and heartburning and disappointment is the way of the reformer. There are many reflections on the national character and its defects are not whittled down. The book has two main themes—the greed and callousness of Irish landlords, and the inability of the Englishman to understand Irish character.
⸺ THE BLINDNESS OF DR. GRAY; or, The Final Law. (Longmans). 6s. 1909. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.
The interest of this novel centres partly in its pictures of clerical life, partly in a charming love story of an uncommon type. The central figure is drawn with care and thoroughness. He is a strict disciplinarian, a rigid moralist, who worships the law with Jansenistic narrowness and hardness. But as the story goes on we discover beneath this hard surface unsuspected depths of human kindness. He himself finds out before the end that it is love, not law, that rules the world. The story contains many beautiful and touching scenes, and some fine description, notably in the South African portion of the book. There is some incidental criticism of various features of Irish life—popular politics, religious divisions, the Gaelic League, the change in the mentality of the people, and there is in it food for thought about some of our besetting faults. Considered by many to be the Author’s most finished and most powerful work. Transl. into German, Von Dr. Grays Blindheit, with introductory sketch (Einsiedeln: Benziger). M. 6. 1911.
⸺ MIRIAM LUCAS. Pp. 470. (Longmans). 6s. [1912]. New ed., 1914. 2s. 6d.
Miriam is the daughter of wealthy Protestant parents in Glendarragh, in the W. of Ireland. Her mother, on becoming a Catholic, is driven by domestic persecution into evil ways, and subsequently disappears. Society ostracizes Miriam, who, in revolt against it, goes to Dublin, where, in alliance with a young visionary Trinity student, she flings herself into the Socialist movement. Her efforts end in a disastrous strike. For a time she staves off crime and tragedy, but it comes at last. Book III. brings her to New York in search of her mother, whom she discovers sunk to the lowest moral depths. The story hinges partly, too, on the lifting of the curse of Glendarragh by Miriam and the hero, who makes her happy in the end. There are not a few fine dramatic situations, but the plot does not hang together. The book is meant to deal with Irish social and religious problems and to picture certain phases of Irish life. The life pictured is chiefly that of the Protestant upper classes, of whom a severe and satirical portrait is drawn. There are just a few glimpses of peasant life. The Author raises more problems than he solves, and the prevailing impression left upon the reader is one of gloom. Has been transl. into German.