20–20943
The story is translated from the Polish by Edmund Obecny and relates the fate of a young actress. Janina Orlowski is driven from home by an insanely tyrannical father, whose choice of a husband she has refused. Her ambition is to become an actress and she goes to Warsaw and is taken on by a third-rate company. Her experiences there are a series of disillusionments, the actors she meets are not interested in art but are a sordid, coarse lot. She falls into dire poverty and on the verge of starvation and about to become a mother, she commits suicide.
“It is almost inconceivable that the novel has lost anything in translating, so delightfully lyric are the descriptions of the Polish countryside, so poignant the characterization, so diverting the dialogue.” W. T. R.
+ Boston Transcript p4 D 4 ’20 770w
REYNOLDS, GERTRUDE M. (ROBINS) (MRS LOUIS BAILLIE REYNOLDS). Also Ran. *$1.90 (2c) Doran
20–19180
Jacynth Pennant had spent her early life away from her home, having been adopted as a baby by an aunt. When she returned to it as a young lady, she found an air of mystery enveloping everything. Her father, though affectionate, was unhappy and worried. The neighborhood had not ceased talking about the murder of Guy Warristoun some time before. His brother Ranulf was suspected of the murder, but acquitted upon the testimony of a chauffeur. Ran subsequently disappeared and had not been heard of since. Shortly after Jacynth’s return, he unexpectedly put in his appearance once more. When he persuaded Jacynth to marry him after a short acquaintance, her impelling motive of acceptance was that her father was under heavy obligations to him. He explained as his reason for asking her that he wanted to put it out of her power to marry his cousin Hector, a worthless fellow with whom she was half in love, and to whom, though his lawful heir, he did not wish to leave his property. His one biggest reason he did not give—he was in love with her. How she came to realize this, after doubt and heartache for both is the culmination of the story, and in the process of its development is revealed the true explanation of Guy’s death and the chauffeur’s part in it.
“Though not always convincing the story is wholesome and ingenious and will interest men or women.”