+ − =Nature.= 75: 313. Ja. 31, ’07. 2170w.
=Bottome, Phyllis.= Imperfect gift [a novel]. †$1.50. Dutton.
“The author has taken for her central characters two sisters, one of whom is obviously and remarkably beautiful; the other is beautiful in her heart and mind, whilst far from impeccable, and lovably human. The lives of these two girls are traced from their early childhood, with a widowed mother in Italy, to their establishment in life in London; and their characters are developed before our eyes with subtlety and skill.”—Ath.
“The whole book is very unequal and unfinished; the people do not live or gain the reader’s sympathy, and difficulties are avoided at the expense of truth.”
“There are 340 pages in it, and not one of them is a page wasted or spoilt. It is a fine sober piece of literary workmanship, as well as an entertaining novel.”
“The story is smoothly and competently told, and while its basis lies in the realm of mediocre, respectable fiction, the observation of detail, if a shade shopworn, is always sufficiently correct and agreeably expressed to make the whole fairly readable—if no better novel be at hand.”
+ − =Nation.= 85: 143. Ag. 15, ’07, 260w.
=N. Y. Times.= 12: 500. Ag. 17, ’07. 110w.
“The reader will find the story completely satisfactory until the moment comes when he is told what is the particular talent to which the heroine is going to devote herself.”
=Boulting, William.= Tasso and his times. *$2.75. Putnam.
A biography full of side-lights on the history of Italy during the latter part of the sixteenth century. Tasso’s personal history is a succession of failures and troubles; it is a record of one too weak to buffet his way among despots and courtiers identified with Italy’s decline and corruption.
“We may have appeared to have criticised Mr. Boulting severely, but we have done so because his book seems to deserve careful consideration, and we desire to recommend it to many readers whom its more conspicuous merits will instruct and entertain.”
“From every point of view, historical, biographical, literary, and critical, ‘Tasso and his times’ will be found most satisfactory.” Walter Littlefield.
+ + =N. Y. Times.= 12: 598. O. 5, ’07. 1320w.
+ =N. Y. Times.= 12: 664. O. 19, ’07. 30w.