_368,925 copies of English editions sold to date._
This is an Iceland story, like "THE BONDMAN," but totally different
in spirit and treatment. It is a modern rendering of the Biblical
parable of the same name, with a strong appeal for the elder brother,
and it is intended to say that an evil act once done can never be
undone. Some of the incidents take place on the Riviera, the "far
country," in which the prodigal wastes his substance. When he
returns home he finds, not the "fatted calf" awaiting him, but the
wreckage caused by his conduct. "THE PRODIGAL SON" was published
simultaneously in eight foreign countries, and was even more warmly
praised abroad than at home. Nearly half a million copies of it have
been sold in the English editions. It was dramatised for Drury Lane
Theatre and produced with great success.
_The Westminster Gazette_ says: "In truth, a work that must certainly
rank with the best in recent fiction."