The Parvenu Family; or, Phabe, Girl and Wife. By Percy
Fitz- gerald, 3 vole. (Bentley.)—It is not easy to see the purpose of this story. The real heroine of the story is neither one of the " Parvenu Family " nor Phoebe. It is the inscrutable Adelaide Cross, the mystery of whose motives is commended by the author's last words to the specu- lations of his readers. As to the "Parvenu Family," it might be dis- pensed with altogether. It is not essentially necessary to the story, and there is nothing in the way in which it is described that does much credit to Mr. Fitzgerald's originality or literary power. The very word implies what is common-place aid vulgar, and this is exactly what we find. The subject is one which has been handled times with- out number before, and Mr. Fitzgerald has not found it possible proprie dicere. Both Phoebe and Adelaide are creations which Show much more. power. The first especially is a real woman, whom the author does nob indeed permit us to respect, for she is unquestionably silly, but with whom it would be quite possible, we feel, to fall in love. Lord Garterley is a pleasant sketch. On the whole, however, the im- pression left by the story is not a pleasant one. With the doubtful ex- ception of Mr. Brookfield, doubtful because we really know next to nothing about him, there is scarcely a personage from the beginning to the end of the book for whom it is possible to feel any regard.
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