A new Essex novel by the author of "My Vagabondage," "Tillers of the Soil," etc., is a notable literary event. Among the American criticisms of this novel are the following: "A Sophoclean subject handled in a masterly manner"; "A wonderful delineation of life on the Essex coast"; "A great and natural tragedy where there is no offence because of the admirable reticence."

The story of a sophisticated father, an unsophisticated son, and a number of memorable women. The brilliant father has a richly coloured past, particularly with regard to one woman, and some others, and wine, and gambling, and reading and travelling and thinking; and he filters through himself "stained glass," he says the light of his own experiences for the benefit of his boy. It is a love story that travels far ; there are scenes of city and ranch life in Brazil, of the Parisian art world, of London high society, and New England country life. It is a love story that travels swiftly. Often it laughs. Often it strikes the dazzling blue sparks of wit. Sometimes it touches the tenderest chords of human life. It never drags or bores, it always flies.

Lena Hale is of German-Jewish descent, and the conflict between Western ideals and an Eastern temperament forms the chief theme of this novel. The story describes the half-foreign, half-English atmosphere of an Anglo-German household, and indirectly the book is also a plea for the amelioration of our divorce laws, and paints a vivid picture of the evils, dangers, and complexities arising from separation without full legal release.