Books

"Do Unto Others." by Charity Blithering-Smith.

Here is a novel of our times, with the sharpest immediacy of appeal to all, young and old, who are living in this present epoch of today—an epoch of grandeur and misery, when emotions common to mankind in all ages have taken on a greater depth, a new intensity. And so this book is even something much more than "a novel of our times"—it is moreover, over and over above that, possessive of a universality such as belongs only to those exceptional works of great fiction, which, written with a deep understanding of human nature and its inherent weaknesses, reach out to universal, nay, eternal issues.

Plainly then, this is a magnificent novel, overwhelming in its majesty, throbbing with vibrant, passionate power, full of colour, social comment, deep feeling and' sublimely tender sentiment. It flows like a broad stream, slowly and inevitably, like life itself, and like life, it cannot be summarised—it must be read, it must indeed be lived.

Complex, and packed full with superbly realized characters, it is yet utterly candid, frightfully direct, and of a clarity—one might say of a simplicity, that cannot be too highly praised: its central theme proceeds unerringly to its tragic goal. And so, in spite of the book's length, and the richness of its canvas, its essence may be expressed in a single phrase: it is a story of conflicting loyalties and of great love, the poignant beautiful story of a man passionately devoted to the highest ideals, and of a girl, poor, proud, facing frightfully implacable, adamant, yes, even stubborn opposition and conflicting loyalties, who can take a blow straight on the chin, with a stiff upper lip. yet "toujours gaie." I could not read the unravelling of the denoument with dry eyes, so mighty, so powerful, was the portrayal of these two young innocents, both living lives seemingly doomed to unfulfilment.

In conclusion let me say just this—this novel must surely rank as one of the most vital pieces of writing that it has been my privilege to review; a work that, written as it is in the author's own unique, inimitable style, distils the quintescence of all she has said, and could ever hope to say in the future.

—Muriel Montmorency Jones.