+ − Springf’d Republican p10 N 13 ’20 230w (Reprinted from London Observer)
“We may say without absurdity that the child has a style. And it reaches, particularly towards the end of the diary, a rare poetic suggestiveness. We hope that Opal Whiteley will write the other books she planned in childhood, but we do not expect them to be like this book; it is one of those inspirations which can seldom be repeated.”
+ The Times [London] Lit Sup p593 S 16 ’20 2500w
WHITHAM, G. I. St John of Honeylea. *$1.75 (1½c) Lane
20–7526
When Evelyn St John was ten he was left an orphan in the keeping of a hard aunt. Of his father’s family he knew nothing. By force of character and personal charm he holds his own, makes friends and achieves a sheep farm at the Cape, when at the age of thirty he falls heir to the ancestral estate of the St John’s, Honeylea, in the south of England. In reality he had inherited much more: dark mysteries, a curse and the hatred and suspicions of a neighborhood. Honeylea had once been abbey land, had been wrested from the monks, who still haunted the woods where they had been murdered and had cursed the place. What became the banqueting hall of Honeylea had once been a church and all the St Johns had come to grief—the curse and their own pride being their undoing. The modern skepticism and moral courage of the present St John struggles bravely against the atmosphere and hidden malignity of the place which he loves for its beauty. Not until he has learned to pray as a last refuge from despair and the house is burned, is the curse lifted and fortune in love returns to a St John.
Ath p1354 D 12 ’19 40w
“A very good bit of character work, an intensely absorbing story, this will appeal equally to those who love realistic tales of today, and to the fortunate folk who are made happy by medieval legends of days of old. For the book has both.”
+ Boston Transcript p6 O 9 ’20 480w