Page:Adams - A Child of the Age.djvu/260

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THE KEYNOTES SERIES

Fifth Edition, just ready.

KEYNOTES. By George Egerton. With Title-page by Aubrey Beardsley. Crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d. net.

'Emboldened, doubtless, by the success of "Dodo," the author of "Keynotes" offers us a set of stories written with the least amount of literary skill and in the worst literary taste. We have refrained from quotation, for fear of giving to this book an importance which it does not merit.'—Pall Mall Gazette.

'The sirens sing in it from the first page to the last. It may, perhaps, shock you with disregard of conventionality and reticencies, but you will all the same have to admit its fascination. There can be no doubt that in Mr. George Egerton his publishers have discovered a story-teller of genius.'—Star.

'This is a collection of eight of the prettiest short stories that have appeared for many a day. They turn for the most part on feminine traits of character; in fact, the book is a little psychological study of woman under various circumstances. The characters are so admirably drawn, and the scenes and landscapes are described with so much and so rare vividness, t6hat one cannot help being almost spell-bound by their perusal.'—St. James's Gazette.

'A rich, passionate temperament vibrates through every line. . . . We have met nothing so lovely in its tenderness since Mr. Kipling's "Without Benefit of Clergy."'—Daily Chronicle.

'For any one who cares more for truth than for orthodox mummery, and for the real flood of the human heart than for the tepid negus which stirs the veins of respectability, this little book deserves a hearty welcome.'—Sketch.

'Singularly artistic in its brilliant suggestiveness.'—Daily News.

'This is a book which is a portentous sign of our times. The wildness, the fierceness, the animality that underlie the soft, smooth surface of woman's pretty and subdued face—this is the theme to which she again and again recurs.'—T. P. in Weekly Sun.

'To credit a new writer with the possession of genius is a serious matter, but it is nevertheless a verdict which Mr. George Egerton can hardly avoid at the hands of those who read his delightful sketches.'—Liverpool Post.

'These lovely sketches are informed by such throbbing feeling, such insight into complex woman, that we with all speed and warmth advise those who are in search of splendid literature to procure "Keynotes" without delay.'—Literary World.

'These very clever stories of Mr. Egerton's.'—Black and White.

'The reading of it is an adventure, and, once begun, it is hard to tear yourself from the book till you have devoured every line. There is impulsive life in every word of it. It has passion, ardour, vehement romance. It is full of youth; often enough the revolt and despair of youth.'—Irish Independent.

'Every line of the book gives the impression that here some woman has crystallised her life's drama; has written down her soul upon the page.'—Review of Reviews.

'The work of a woman who has lived every hour of her life, be she young or old. . . . She allows us, like the great artists of old, Shakespeare and Goethe, to draw our own moral from the stories she tells, and it is with no uncertain touch or faltering hand that she pulls aside the curtain of conventional hypocrisy which hundreds of women hang between the world and their own hearts. . . . The insight of the writer into the curious and complicated nature of women is almost miraculous.'—Lady's Pictorial.