Holdsworth, Annie E. (Mrs. Eugene J. Lee-Hamilton). New Paolo and Francesca. [†]$1.50. Lane.
A modern variation of the old story. The heroine has promised her dying father that she will wed the elder of her twin cousins, who will inherit her father’s title and estates. She fulfils her pledge in spite of the fact that she loves the younger brother, and the result is tragedy. The story is further complicated by the discovery that her lover is the true heir, and her husband in reality is the younger brother, the two having been changed in infancy.
| + — | Acad. 68: 150. F. 18, ‘05. 460w. |
“Nothing but praise, however, is to be said for the art of the author. In description, in delineation of character and in that subtle and compelling power by which the imagination of the reader is held enthralled, the work is noteworthy. It is to be regretted that a story so charming in its style, so fascinating in its atmosphere and so powerful in the handling of the theme should be so depressing in its influence on the mind.” A. C. Rich.
| + — | Arena. 33: 453. Ap. ‘05. 250w. |
“It is well told, and the author has enough coloring matter in her vocabulary to paint the national history of a whole continent.”
| + — | Ind. 59: 218. Jl. 27, ‘05. 110w. | |
| — + | Sat. R. 99: 779. Je. 10, ‘05. 170w. |
Holland, Clive. Japanese romance. $1.50. Stokes.
A young English artist sailing eastward to paint the wonders of Japan, meets a beautiful English girl on the steamer and admires her apparently merely in an artistic way. Arriving at Nagasaki he falls in with two former fellow-students at Paris, one a Japanese, the other a Scot who has taken a Japanese wife. Thru these he becomes involved in many social complications and finally marries Mio-Lan, a lovely Japanese maid. Later he begins to long for the English girl he had met on the steamer and the story becomes a tragedy for Mio-Lan.
“The merit of the story lies not in the sentiment and flower women, but in the characters of the modern Japanese, Mr. Yumoto, and the Scottish expatriate.”