A Novel by J. E. PANTON, author of “Sketches in Black and White,” “Less
than Kin,” &c.
“The author of ‘Less than Kin’ has produced in ‘The Curate’s Wife’ a
story as powerful and full of genuine human interest as has appeared
for some long time past. This tale of ‘country life’ is realistic in
the best sense of the word. Faithful as a photograph in all its minor
details, it shows clear insight into the character of both the sexes,
and under very varied conditions. The gradual transformation of the
heroine from a young girl, full of high purposes and enthusiasm,
into the hopeless drudge who in despair lays herself down to die, is
painted with an almost Zola-like fidelity. Her tyrant, the popular
curate, is also a powerful sketch. It is difficult not to think that
an expiation worked out in the scene of his misdeeds, with people
who pity while they blame him, is insufficient punishment for so
contemptible a cur. It would have been, doubtless, more satisfactory
had Meta conquered in the unequal contest between her well-meaning
inexperience and her husband’s brutal self-love, but in real life the
chances would be against her, and this clever novel is, above all, an
exact picture of certain phases of human nature as it is, and in this
lies its chief merit.”--_Morning Post._
_In crown 8vo., 2 vols., cloth, price 6s._