Dillon, Mrs. Mary C. The leader. †$1.50. Doubleday.
“The story is concerned mainly with the career of a statesman, in whom it is the author’s evident intention to picture William J. Bryan, who has made himself the leader and the idol of the masses of his party. A large part of the narrative is taken up with events connected with the last Democratic national convention. There are some spirited descriptions of convention scenes, and a very good picture is presented of the convention as a whole.”—N. Y. Times.
“All in all, ‘The leader’ is a great political work—a matchless campaign document. It were superfluous to dwell on the evidence that its author is as unskilled in the use of the English language as most makers of political documents; that the construction of her novel, considered merely as a novel, is as shaky as that of many a party platform.” Edward Clark Marsh.
– + Bookm. 24: 158. O. ’06. 1030w.
“One feature of the book, however, is distinctly offensive; that is the affectation of British phrasing for the common details of American life.”
– Ind. 61: 939. O. 18, ’06. 390w. – Lit. D. 33: 344. S. 22, ’06. 170w.
“The veil of fiction cast over these incidents is of the thinnest; the writer’s art gives them no fresh meaning.”
– Nation. 83: 246. S. 20, ’06. 210w.
“Mrs. Dillon’s sole equipment for the writing of fiction is a knack for descriptive narrative. The plot of her story could hardly be more flimsy or more hackneyed.”