Mr. Sullivan is never at a loss: he “keeps the ball rolling” merrily. Unhesitatingly he puts his finger on the laughter-feeding qualities in every one and every thing. He mocks, but it is with a kindly mockery that adds zest to life.
As for the Birthmark—the it plays in the game it would be unfair to reveal, but the comedy both above and below stairs makes joyous reading. To all who enjoy laughter we recommend this whimsical and witty book.SMITE THE ROCK.
By OSWALD H. DAVIS,
Author of “Soft Goods.”
Crown 8 vo. 7 s. 6 d. net.
All readers of Mr. Davis’s brilliant first novel must have looked forward with eager interest to a second book from his pen. They will not be disappointed.
“Smite the Rock” is, like “Soft Goods,” a chronicle of the great Midland city of Ardencester, and is marked by the same sincerity and fineness of detail that distinguished the earlier book. Life in a provincial city: the niceties of its class distinctions: its “high teas:” its chapel “socials:” the ugliness of its industrialism, are described with a vividness that is almost uncanny.
Against these pettinesses of existence: these social differentiations: the drabness of the workers’ lives: the things that “always have been and always will be,” Frank Calder rebelled. The son of an employer and a capitalist, he ranges himself on the side of Labour, only to find his idealism shaken by contact with the individual representatives of the class he champions, and by the brute force of the mass. But the ideal of service, the purity of his conception, the instinct to fight for an idea, survive, and the book ends on a note of high hopefulness.
Mr. Davis’s subject is a fascinating one—the gradual development of a young man’s character, his aspirations, his temptations—and he has handled it with masterly skill.
A QUEST FOR A FORTUNE.
By PHILIPPA TYLER.
Crown 8 vo. 7 s. 6 d. net.
