By KATHLEEN O'MEARA. 16mo, Cloth, $1 00.
"The scenes and incidents of Miss O'Meara's tale are purely
Russian, and the time is the present period of which Tolsto[=i]
treats. Naturally they suggest the marvellously realistic pictures
of the author of 'Anna Karenina,' although it would be very unjust
to the younger novelist to compare her work with his. Tolsto[=i] is
always introspective; he deals rather with character than with the
incidents which develop character. 'Narka' portrays an involved and
ingenious complication of events which hold the interest of the
absorbed reader until the end is reached. Tolsto[=i]'s stories,
even when he has a story to tell, are simply the intuitive
outgrowth of the thoughts and actions of the real men and women he
draws. His _dramatis personae_ make his plots, while Miss O'Meara's
plots, on the other hand, make her men and women.... Narka Larik, a
low-born Russian Jewess, is a peculiar product of Russian soil and
of autocratic Russian rule. She is possessed of a beautiful person,
a glorious voice, and a strong moral and mental constitution; she
is suspicious, as all Muscovites are, a thorough and consistent
hater, a devoted friend, truthful to a degree; and she calmly
swears on the holy image of the blessed St. Nicholas to an utter
falsehood in order to screen her lover and to aid his cause.... The
scenes are laid among that curious mixture of Oriental magnificence
and barbaric discomfort, of lavish expenditure and shabby
makeshift, to be found in a Russian castle, with its splendid
vastness, the immensity of its grounds, the immensity of the
forests on all sides of it, and the general scale of immensity on
which everything about it, and within it, is invariably conducted.
Add to these Russian prisons, Paris _salons_, French convents, the
lyric stage at Milan, Socialists, Nihilists, priests, patriots, and
vivisectionists, and it will readily be seen how strong and
effective a story can be made by a woman so gifted in the telling
of stories, the weaving of plots, and the study of character as
Miss O'Meara has already proved herself to be. Narka Larik is a
better woman morally than Anna Karenina, intellectually she is the
superior of Katia, and she is quite worthy to stand by the side of
these two illustrious countrywomen of hers as the exponent of all
that is true and womanly in modern Russian life."
_The above work sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any part of the
United States or Canada, on receipt of the price._
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