With hesitation one approaches the first novel of an author whose growth
has been so steady as that of Walpole. It is therefore a double delight
to find _The Wooden Horse_ a thoroughly good story. Indeed, it has in
it certain qualities which should, as Walpole's work becomes more and
more known in mass, be one of his most popular. For it is filled with
the youth's first joy of expression; its excitement about life and its
yearning for strange new roads.
_The Wooden Horse_ is the story of the Trojans, a family which accepted
as tranquilly as did the Duchess of Wrexe the belief that they were the
people for whom the world was created. But when Harry Trojan came home
after twenty years in New Zealand, with the democracy learned by working
his hands, he was the "wooden horse" who boldly carried into the Trojan
walls a whole army of alien ideals, which made of that egotistic family
a group of human beings content to be human.
Interesting are his struggles against stubborn prejudice; dreamlike the
pictures of the old Trojan house, rising from the edge of the gray
Cornish cliff like an older cliff, yet surrounded by fragrant rose
gardens; but what most distinguishes _The Wooden Horse_ is its
passionate adoration of the sea, the cliffs, the weather-worn old
Cornish houses, where bearded men tell of haunted moors and the winds of
the deep.
"Reading this story after reading his later ones will not prove the
disappointment that such a procedure usually is. Here are no signs of
faults outgrown, no weaknesses that will hurt the lover of Walpole's
later works--by which statement we do not wish to be taken as denying
that he has developed. Mr. Walpole is a realist with a wide angle
vision to whom not only the littered and close ways of short-sighted and
selfish men are real, but to whom the large species of nature and her
healing quiet are just as real. He sees life steadily and sees it
whole--yet keeps his temper and his hopes."--Llwellyn Jones in _The
Chicago Evening Post_.
"Nowhere has Walpole shown a greater grip upon life's realities, a
stronger appreciation of the elusiveness of man-made conventionalities
and a better artistic sense of the dramatic value of contrasts. In
describing the subtle changes brought about in the family circle by the
presence of one outside influence, Walpole has displayed much skill and
literary power. There are no long disquisitions, no democratic
preachments, but his dramatic personae, when brought face to face with
new situations, are moved to action according to their light. This is
one of the very best novels from the pen of Mr. Walpole, and that is
saying much."--_Philadelphia Public Ledger_.
"A most notable piece of artistry. In Harry Trojan, the 'unrepentant
prodigal,' Mr. Walpole has given us a splendid vigorous personality
whose acquaintance is a delight to readers wearied by heroes of the type
of Harry's semidecadent son. The picture of the Trojan family is one
which for vividness could scarcely be surpassed. And, indeed, Mr.
Walpole has scarcely written anything more excellent than the account of
the dying of Sir Jeremy Trojan--'I am going, but I don't regret
anything--your sins are experience--and the greatest sin of all is not
having any.' That, in a sense, is the motto of the book. _The Wooden
Horse_ is one of the few novels which not only may be read, but must be
read by the discriminating reader."--_Providence Journal_.
"If one wishes to read a good story without being preached at, he can do
no better than read _The Wooden Horse_. The story catches the
atmosphere of the Cornish coast, and you have the feel of the salt spray
in your nostrils as you read."--_Indianapolis News_.
"As delicate a piece of work as any modern novelist has attempted and
superlatively well done."--_Lexington Kentucky Herald_.