A NOVEL OF REAL QUALITY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 73, 2 May 1914, Page 3

A NOVEL OF REAL QUALITY.

Miss Ethel v Sedgwiek, \vho3e thoroughly artistic stories, "Promise" and "Succession," have won for "* their author a well-deserved reputation, is again to be congratulated upon her latest novel, " A Lady of Leisure" (Sedgwick and Jackson; per Whitcombe and Tombs). It is difficult to write in terms of too high commendation o« this, excellent story, brimful as it is of the spirit of ultra literary modernity, rich in clever character-drawing, and _ sparkling with spontaneous wit and unforced epigram. Mainly it is the love story of a very clever and delightful girl, the daughter of a fashionable London doctor, whose wife, a frivolous selfish woman, at one time goes perilously near open infidelity. Between Violet Ashwin and her father there is that - curious bond of personal understanding and sympathy which is so often accentuated where the wife is unwifely and where the father hungers for love. How this very charming girl is wooed and won by a very fine young 1 fellow, who, however, is subjected to a long and somewhat trying period of suspended approval, is told by Miss Sedgwick in a peculiarly happy and original way. There is, too, a subsidiary love story, that of a pretty young dressmaker, Which is delightfully fresh and eon- J ,<; vincing, and there is a touch of well-subdued dramatic "-*' effect in the scene where the doctor utterly routsAa French Count, a most unspeakable '' boxmder,'' • , '-"- 4 t«: whom his wife has been carrying on a very dangerous flirtation, "A Lady of Leisure" is a novel to be~read-_l-, and enjoyed by all who appreciate" .the best class> of .-/ "■ fiction. Its literary style is quite refreshingly free frpia \, - commonplace. " v .'"