A Willing Exile. By Andre Raffalovich. 2 vole. (F. V.
White and Co.)—It is not often that a " society " novel—that is, a novel devoted entirely to describing modern society in its outward aspects, and also, in this case, its utter futility of purpose—can be called almost unexceptionable in tone. A Willing Exile is a novel of the narrowest of types, in one sense of the word ; it describes nothing but society characters and society life ; but it describes them well, after a fashion, in a quick, sketchy manner. There are a crowd of minor personages in the story, rather too many, we cannot help thinking; but such as they are, "Andre Raffalovich " knows how to treat them, and defines the aspirations of the giddy, heartless, and brainless crowd very well indeed. Daisy, the heroine, is a simple and natural character; Clarence, as her lover and an actor in the drama, does fairly well, though he is by no means a defined figure. Daisy's husband, Cyprian, is a mistake ; he is rather too foolish. The love which springs up between Daisy and Clarence forme the motive of the story, and the guilty passion is treated with a taste and feeling both unexceptionable and ex- ceptional. At the end, her husband and her lover being dangerously ill, Daisy is left nursing the one, her heart being with the other. If the tone of A Willing Exile is good, its tendency is not; there is far too much hopelessness about it.
Previous page
