MACFARLAN, ALEXANDER. Inscrutable lovers; a tragic comedy. *$1.75 (4c) Dodd
(Eng ed 20–5589)
Margaret, the daughter of Count Kettle, Irish patriot and champion of lost causes, has been nourished on romance. As Count Kettle’s daughter she is pointed out as the most picturesque and romantic figure in Ireland. But she hates her position and she marries Charlie Macaig to escape it. “I could have loved a grocer,” says Margaret in extenuation, “just any grocer.” Charlie Macaig is the youngest member of a firm of shipowners. He is steady, he is practical, he is reliable, he is everything that Margaret’s familiar associates are not. But, as it turns out, his own dreams for all his practical business years have been of romance and adventure, and Margaret is the fulfillment of his dreams. There is mutual shock of discovery when the truth comes out, and then love, abetted by the Catholic church—which is practical or romantic as you happen to look at it—triumphs.
“To crispness of visualization, the author adds crispness in dialogue. Novelists cannot eschew some description; here Mr MacFarlan is little gifted.”
+ − Boston Transcript p11 Ap 17 ’20 430w
“‘The inscrutable lovers’ is Mr MacFarlan’s second book and he is said to be very young. It is a very modern sort of youth that is his. His perceptions are very sharp, but his nature seems wintry. The book is a study in contrasting temperaments. The contrasts are very clear. They are indeed too clear and their edges are too glittering. People are not as simply made as all that.”
+ − Nation 110:305 Mr 6 ’20 240w
“It has not only brilliancy but a delicate completeness comparable to (not like) that of Mr Hewlett’s earlier bits of romantic comedy. A delightful piece of literary comedy.” H. W. Boynton
+ Review 2:334 Ap 3 ’20 700w