Bazan, Emilia Pardo. [Mystery of the lost dauphin], tr. with an introd. essay by Annabel Hord Seeger. †$1.50. Funk.
With a dramatic power which is moving in its forcefulness this Spanish author has written the story of the lost dauphin, the little son of Louis XVI, who was long supposed to have died in prison. It is a book of such realism that the reader feels thruout that it is the dread hand of fate and not the author who relentlessly orders the unhappy life of Naundorff, and forces him finally to give up voluntarily the recognition he has struggled a lifetime to gain. The story of his lovely daughter Amélie, whose happiness is sacrificed, gives to the book a deeper human interest.
+ Critic. 49: 284. S. ’06. 110w.
“This particular version of the imagined history of the Dauphin has a romantic atmosphere of hopeless unreality, and arouses only a languid sort of interest.” Wm. M. Payne.
– + Dial. 41: 113. S. 1, ’06. 210w.
“Her literary style is remarkable for clarity and simplicity.”
+ Ind. 61: 398. Ag. 16, ’06. 260w.
“It belongs to the highest type of the historical novel, drawing its inspiration from authentic sources and rich in those elements which invest the dry bones of history with flesh and blood.”
+ + Lit. D. 33: 157. Ag. 4, ’06. 550w.