In this book, Laurids Bruun draws once more upon the papers of his imaginary friend "Van Zanten," whose "Happy Days" on Pelli Island formed the output of the first of this series.
"The Promised Isle," however, is in a somewhat different vein, describing, with a touch of delicate satire, the adventures, and more especially the misadventures, of a little party of enthusiasts who turn from artificial society to seek true happiness and their respective ideals on an uninhabited island in the South Seas. The manner in which each of the friends faces the self-imposed Crusoe-life, the expedients to which they severally have recourse, the unexpected addition to their number, and its effect, make a most entertaining and amusing story.
An English love story by a new writer, telling of quiet lives in a little country town. The characters are chosen from that great class of office workers whose lives are for the most part grey and uneventful, yet the author has succeeded in investing them and their surroundings with individuality and charm.
A woman's confession. The story of a girl whose ignorance of vital things in life leads her first into a marriage that proves a martyrdom, and then to a desperate escape. The author shows with great force and earnestness the stages whereby men and women are lured along the dangerous by-paths that lead "Into the Dark."
"Observant, penetrating ... gifts undeniable ... manages quite surprisingly to preserve our interest."
"This excellent rendering of an interesting Norwegian novel."--_Scotsman._
"A romance of intense interest ... there are some chapters so amazingly and arrestively fine that they stand out as absolutely masterly."--_Evening News._
"Grandeur and dignity ... the spirit of romance ... a noble as well as a notable book."--_Aberdeen Free Press._
"Iceland, as a modern wonderland of mystery and romance, has never been more attractively presented than in this beautiful work."
"Full of dramatic force."--_Weekly Dispatch._
"One of the finest romances we have had for some time."
"Simply told, with a nobility of conception and a clarity of expression that are beyond praise."--_Irish Times._
"He writes as one who inherits the old tradition of Viking exploits, love and blood feuds, and the conflicts between the followers of Odin and of Christ."--_Times Literary Supplement._