Page:The Mystery of the Sea.djvu/527



The Pall Mall Gazette.—'This is a remarkable book. Mrs. Voynich has essayed no less than to analyse a boy's character as warped even to the edge of permanent injury by the systematic sternness—aggravated on occasion into fiendish brutality—of his guardian. We know nothing in recent fiction comparable with the grim scene in which the boy forces his uncle to listen to the maledictions of the Commination Service directed against himself. Jack Raymond is the strongest novel that the present season has produced, and it will add to the reputation its author won by The Gadfly.'

The Academy.—'A remarkable story, which readers who prefer flesh and blood and human emotions to sawdust and adventure should consider as something of a godsend. It is more deeply interesting and rich in promise than ninety-nine out of every hundred novels.'

The World.—'The strength and originality of the story are indisputable.'

The St. James's Gazette.—'A very strikingly original romance which will hold the attention of all who read it, and establish the author's reputation at once for first-rate dramatic ability and power of expression.'

The Standard.—'The analytical power displayed makes this book a remarkable one, and the drawing of the chief figures is almost startlingly good.'

The Daily News.—'A novel of conspicuous ability.'

The Athenæum.—'The very strangeness of her genius is one of its chief charms. Her domain lies on the outskirts of fairyland, and there is an other-worldliness about her most real and convincing characters.'

The Spectator.—'We are glad to welcome in this delightful volume evidence of the unabated vitality of that vein of fantastic invention which ran purest in the tales of Andersen. The influence of Gœthe's Wilhelm Meister is obvious in the longest and most beautiful story of the collection. But when all deductions are made on the score of indebtedness, the originality of plot and treatment remain unquestioned. The story is rendered touching and convincing by the ingenious charm and sincerity of the narrator.'