Page:The Spoils of Poynton (London, William Heinemann, 1897).djvu/324



The Times.—'In a sense this novel is belated, being a straggler from the procession of books more or less directly concerned with the New Woman. This is a pity, for it is perhaps the best of the novels that have vindicated or mocked at that tiresome female. . . . Still it may be allowed that here we meet with less cant, less rancour, less prurience, less affectation of omniscience, more genuine philosophy, and a more careful style and more real literary power than in any other novel of the same school.'

The Athenæum.—'The character-drawing is distinctly good. All the personages stand out well defined with strongly marked individualities.'

The Morning Post.—'Clytie is made undeniably sympathetic, while the author's pictures of Bohemian life are bright and graphic.'

The Pall Mall Gazette.—'The merit of the book lies in the description of the life of Clytie Davenant (the heroine) as an artist in London, of her friendship with Kent, her wooing by Thornton Hammerdyke, and the struggles of her married life. All this is portrayed, not in the grand style, but soberly, truthfully, and on the whole effectively.'

The Daily Chronicle.—'This clever and somewhat audacious story. . . . We congratulate W. J. Locke, and shall be surprised if the reception accorded to his book is not such as to cause him to congratulate himself.'

The Review of Reviews.—'Here is a tale of women's life in London in the present year, of varied societies, of a husband's brutality, and of a woman's fidelity, told with restraint, power, and originality. It is certainly one of the novels which mark a beginner out for attention.'

Vanity Fair.—'After a long course of flaccid, nerveless books that seem to have no raison d'être, it is refreshing to find a well-written novel whose characters seem "hewn from life," and act as men and women really act.'

The Scotsman.—'The story never drags, and can be read from end to end. It seems to be a first work, and in its strength and vigour gives good promise for the future. The workmanship is careful and conscientious, while the characterisation is broad, human, and natural'

The Manchester Guardian.—'In depicting the friendship between Clytie and Kent the author shows both power and subtlety, and may fairly claim to have given us something new, for the portrayal of such a relationship between a man and a woman standing on an equal intellectual level has not been successfully attempted before.'


 * WILLIAM HEINEMANN,, W.C.