The Watcher, and other weird stories Part 22

IRISH WEEKLY INDEPENDENT.

"'The Merchant of Killogue' is a book in which high spirits predominate.

It is no mean compliment to say that two or three chapters read like chapters of 'Charles O'Malley' or 'Harry Lorrequer.'"

BOSTON (U.S.A.) LITERARY WORLD.

"A remarkable novel of Irish life is 'The Merchant of Killogue.' I do not know any novel which paints the life so realistically.... As a portrait of the time and the people the book ought to live."

+W. HEINEMANN+, PUBLISHER, BEDFORD STREET, STRAND, LONDON

G. W. APPLETON'S NOVELS.

A TERRIBLE LEGACY:

A Tale of the South Downs.

"One of the most amusing novels we have ever read. The author revels in a good character, and so the book is filled with grotesque oddities, at which we laugh consumedly.... A novelist who possesses the rare gift of humour. We are grateful for an afternoon of hearty laughter. Could we say as much of nine books out of ten?"--_World._

"One of the most amusing novels we have ever read. Mr. Appleton has done for the South Downs what Mr. Blackmore has done for Exmoor."--_St.

Stephen's Review._

"It is not in respect of this rare gift of humour that I alone value the author. This story is a tale of the South Downs, and Mr. Appleton has the power of depicting in words the changing aspects of nature with an absolute fidelity to truth. Counties differ, as human faces differ, only more so. Mr. Appleton has made the South Downs his own literary property."--_Vanity Fair._

"The reader will not be long in discovering that the book is the work of a good and clever writer of no mean dramatic powers--whether in point of conception or of execution--with much drollery and quaintness at command, and a well-developed faculty of dealing with the mysterious, and other admirable gifts."--_Ill.u.s.trated London News._

"Laughter-moving from first to last. Mr. Appleton has written nothing better than this."--_Scotsman._

"The readers of this strange romance will be bound to confess that the author has held them captive."--_Daily News._

"From first to last absorbs the attention of the reader."--_Morning Post._

"The novel is a novel in the true sense of the word, and whoever reads it must feel refreshed at finding he is perusing altogether a new style of book."--_Observer._

"The novel is a piece of sound workmans.h.i.+p, and distinctly marked off from the ordinary run. It is worthy of its author's high reputation."--_Weekly Dispatch._

"He has created types that deserve to survive and acquire as much popularity as has fallen to the share of some of those of our most famous humorists."--_Echo._

"One of the most original works of fiction we have met with for a long time, as different from the usual feeble imitations of 'Ouida'

and 'George Eliot' as a breezy common or a bright spring day is from the faint, perfume-laden atmosphere of an aristocratic drawing-room."--_London Journal._

"Mr. Appleton's genius seems freer, brighter, and more effective in the lighter moods, and he is able to display a varied cultivation without the slightest obtrusion of learning."--_Sunday Times._

"'A Terrible Legacy' is a book of great ability and power. It is a curious tribute to the vast vitality of d.i.c.kens' genius that a comparatively new and an able writer should openly take him for a model.

Mr. Appleton is not a mere imitator: he does not follow in d.i.c.kens'

footsteps by appropriating his materials, but by adopting his point of view. He has chosen his master wisely, for his own talent is similar in kind."--_New York Daily Graphic._

FROZEN HEARTS:

A Romance.

"There is so much power and pathos in the narrative as to give it an impress of realism, and it is, on the whole, one that most people can read with hearty relish."--_Scotsman._

"'Frozen Hearts' makes high pretensions, and justifies them."--_Westminster Review._

"Good melodrama, such as this is, is a sure panacea against dulness, and implies the possession of that vigour and _elan_ which every novelist should have about him. In some portions, as in the exciting description of the barricade fighting, and in the interview between the unjustly slandered heroine and the mother who is breaking her own heart with her own cruelty, the author rises to real power."--_Globe._

"It is full of all kinds of excitement, and in some places reveals evidence of strong dramatic power."--_Academy._

"The story is new and striking.... Some of the less important characters are amusing, and the light comedy scenes are above the average.... Mr.

Appleton possesses the knack, so useful to a novelist, of getting to his point without any superfluous matter, and is always original and generally correct."--_Sunday Times._

_Victor Hugo_ writes: "Je trouve grand plaisir a la lecture de ce livre.

Le chapitre sur les troubles a Paris m'a vivement interesse."

CATCHING A TARTAR:

A Novel.

"Mr. Appleton's new novel is in every way the equal, if it be not positively the superior of 'Frozen Hearts,' the work which established his just claims to popularity. It is a capital story, written in a most natural and graceful style. The plot is interesting, and all the characters are distinct and realistic creations; some, indeed, are likely to 'live,' and become by reason of their quaint sayings and doings, popular, as were in days of yore some of d.i.c.kens' and Thackeray's personages. Notably is this the case with John, a most original and amusing character, whose pithy sayings provoke many a hearty laugh. The intrigue of the story is lively and intricate, but so skilfully contrived that the 'situations' never appear forced or unnatural. 'Catching a Tartar' is worthy of much praise, and is decidedly one of the cleverest novels we have read or reviewed for a long time. Mr. Appleton possesses exceptional talent as a novelist, and, above all, the rare quality of getting to his point without enc.u.mbering his narrative with superfluous matter. He is always original, and never dull or commonplace. His next venture in the shape of a novel will be looked forward to with much interest."--_Morning Post._

"Many able men have come short of being successful novel writers, simply because they lacked brightness or lightness or smoothness of composition. Mr. Appleton displays these qualities; his book is therefore easy to read.... A vein of humour throughout, the effect of which is heightened by many a touch of genuine pathos. So marked an advance in the course of a single year is deserving of note."--_Athenaeum._

"Mr. Appleton has here achieved a very decided success in the way of a novel of mystery. We must, if we are honest, admit that our attention has been irresistibly enchained throughout the three volumes. The book is one, altogether, to be read, and we may safely predict that no one who masters the first fifty pages will be the least likely to leave it unfinished."--_Graphic._

"The story is contrived with great ingenuity, and told with great skill and spirit.... Characters firmly and sharply drawn, with a good deal of quiet fun and humour."--_Guardian._

"The narrative moves on briskly, and never lets the attention flag."--_Spectator._

JACK ALLYN'S FRIENDS:

A Novel.

"Mr. Appleton knows how to write novels of absorbing and unflagging interest and of remarkable cleverness, and his latest effort, 'Jack Allyn's Friends,' unmistakably possesses these qualities. Much of the peculiar interest of the story is derived from the subtlety with which the catastrophe is brought about. But there is also a brisk, almost boisterous vitality about the book--a sort of vigorous simplicity, resembling that of Messrs. Besant and Rice--with abundant humour and some cleverly-managed love-making under difficulties. With all these characteristics, 'Jack Allyn's Friends' is a novel which even those who may p.r.o.nounce its condemnation from the serene heights of aestheticism will read and enjoy."--_Scotsman._

"Mr. Appleton has succeeded in writing a novel which combines the merits of Miss Braddon with those of Bret Harte. The plot is carefully prepared, and the interest sustained until the very close of the third volume. The stout old American, Bill Hooker, reminds us of one of Bret Harte's Rocky Mountain heroes, whose hearts are of the same sterling metal as the ore from their mines."--_Graphic._

"There is no doubt about the interest of this novel. The plot is certainly contrived with no little art. The secret is ingeniously kept.

Suspicion is skilfully directed, first in one direction, then in another, and the _denouement_ will probably be unsuspected. A decidedly readable novel."--_Spectator._