This novel turns on a strange marital complication, and is notable for
two remarkable women characters, the pathetic girl Lizarann and the
beautiful Judith Arkroyd, with her stage ambitions. Lizarann's father,
Blind Jim, is very appealingly drawn, and shows rare courage and
devotion despite cruel handicaps. There are strong dramatic episodes,
and the author's inevitable humor and optimism.
"De Morgan at his very best, and how much better his best is than
the work of any novelist of the past thirty years."--_Independent._
"There has been nothing at all like it in our day. The best of our
contemporary novelists ... do not so come home to our business and
our bosoms ... his method ... is very different in most important
respects from that of Dickens. He is far less the showman, the
dashing prestidigitator ... more like Thackeray ... precisely what
the most 'modern' novelists are striving for--for the most part in
vain ... most enchanting ... infinitely lovable and
pathetic."--_The Nation._
"Another long delightful voyage with the best English company ...
from Dukes to blind beggars ... you could make out a very good case
for handsome Judith Arkroyd as an up-to-date Ethel Newcome ... the
stuff that tears in hardened and careless hearts are made of ...
singularly perceiving, mellow, wise, charitable, humorous ... a
plot as well defined as if it were a French farce."--_The Times
Saturday Review._
"The characters of Blind Jim and Lizarann are wonderful--worthy of
Dickens at his best."--Professor William Lyon Phelps, of Yale,
author of "Essays on Modern Novelists."