Talk:The Money Moon

Reviews

 * The Bookman, Vol 34, 1911-12:
 * It is pleasant to turn to such a blithe, cheering and eminently wholesome little idyll as The Money Moon, by Jeffrey Farnol. It is a much less ambitious piece of work than the previously published volume by this author. The Broad Highway,—but, to be quite frank, the present reviewer, possibly through fault of mood or temperament, found The Broad Highway frankly boresome; while The Money Moon was by contrast a pure joy because of its utter absence of effort. What is a young man to do when he is blighted in love? That is what George Bellew asks his valet on a memorable occasion; and the valet answers, "As man to man," that there are four things that he might do: marry some other woman; become very drunk; disappear,—or,—well, the fourth fell on unheeding ears, because the third suggestion admirably hit the case. Young Bellew, in an old suit of dust-coloured homespun, takes to the road, and has many blithe adventures,—not the least of which is his encounter with a small boy, weary but undaunted, who has set forth with the worthy intention of walking all the way to Africa to find a fortune with which to pay off the mortgage on his Auntie Anthea's home. Of course it takes no great cleverness to foresee, at this point, just how young Bellew's heart is to be healed; but this is the type of story where it is the manner and not the matter which really counts. And one may say in all sincerity that Mr. Farnol has handled his slim and modest little plot with a deftness and an art that are beyond reproach.


 * The Outlook, 16 December 1912:
 * If you have read "The Broad Highway," and, it is hardly necessary to add, have enjoyed it, you will want to read Mr. Farnol's new story. Both stories have the same freshness, the same invigorating breath of the open road, the same pleasant background of English highways and hedges and meadows and orchards and farmsteads and woodlands, the same mellow humor, the same agreeable characters (yet not the same, of course, for the two stories tell of happenings a century or so apart in point of time). There are differences which may make you like "The Money Moon" the better—the story is simpler in outline and quieter in tone, there are no killings or other brutalities, and there is Small Porges. He is one of the most delightful small boys we have met on many a league of the open road, and his attractiveness is not abated by the fact that his name bears evidence of having been abstracted (with only the loss of an "i") from one of Mr. Kipling's "Just So Stories." If you haven't read "The Broad Highway," you have two agreeable opportunities before you, for both Mr. Farnol's stories provide an ample measure of pleasant divertissement.


 * The Nation, 18 January 1912:
 * Whether or not, as rumor suggests, this novel Is an earlier work than "The Broad Highway," its sources of inspiration are evidently the same. The action takes place in "the Garden of England," and concerns the adventures of a young man (an American, as it chances) of large fortune, imperturbable manner, and an excellent talent with his fists. Being crossed in love, he sets out upon a walking journey, walks five miles, travels ten in a hay-cart (this ride being varied by a fight with the wagoner), and brings up at the "Arcadia" of Dapplemere. The mistress of Dapplemere is named Anthea Devine,. and our adventurer, Bellew, is of the opinion, at first sight of her, that she is "handsomer, lovelier, statelier, and altogether more desirable than all the beautiful ladies of King Arthur's court—or any other court soever." An incredible urchin, her nephew, has piloted him to her, and plays his ornamental part in the slight action that follows. This involves a rich and designing squire, who covets Miss Anthea, for himself; a grasping and gasping tallow-chandler, who holds a mortgage on Dapplemere; and numerous "peasants, servants, etc., who know their places in the comedy. Most of the male characters are either Georges or Adams, these being the robustious names Mr. Farnol evidently prefers to the "John" which has done such excellent service in recent romances—ever since Blackmore set the fashion in "Lorna Doone." Of course, our wandering George is destined to get the better of squire and tallow-chandler; to rescue Dapplemere for Miss Anthea, Miss Anthea for himself. The style is the style of "The Broad Highway"—a compound of Dickens and Borrow, pleasant enough in its reminders, but not quite clear of affectation.