A Poached Peerage Part 57

THE MYSTERY OF THE UNICORN

An absorbing romance of modern life, depending for its interest quite as much on its vivid pictures of society as on its more sensational incidents. Mr. E. F. Benson and Mr. Robert Hichens have more than once achieved the same effect in the weaving of stories of tense dramatic interest, and the present book is a strong and clever specimen of its cla.s.s. Without sacrificing the probabilities the author realizes with great skill the element of strangeness which often carries the circ.u.mstances of modern life even to the verge of fantasy. It is an engrossing story, cleverly set forth.

A PRINCE OF LOVERS

_The World_ says:--"This story is delightful; full of life and movement, genuine human nature, and the stir of love and grief, good fortune and evil with so much reality in the persons on the stage that they enlist sympathy or excite animosity as fully as the author needs to desire. The stars which Sir William Magnay has selected and set shining for us in an atmosphere well suited for their radiance are very bright and particular indeed."

_The Dundee Courier_ says:--"We commend this book to any one on the look out for a thrilling, fascinating, and skilfully narrated tale.

Each chapter abounds in exciting situations and daring deeds, one's anxiety to know what comes next increasing as the story unfolds."

_The Portsmouth Times_ says:--"A brilliant romance crowded with stirring incident and is never for a moment dull."

_The Morning Leader_ says:--"The story is spirited and exciting and may be read with pleasure by all who enjoy a stirring romance."

_The Scotsman_ says:--"The story is full of exciting adventures skilfully narrated. Swords are whirling in every page and so thrilling are the incidents that each chapter breeds anxiety to know the events of the next."

_The Athenaeum_ says:--"Sir Wm. Magnay wafts us away to the realms of pure romance, where the hard facts of a prosaic century are forgotten in the Hercynian Forest of two hundred years ago. The princess is loveliest of the lovely, the villains craftiest of the crafty; gallant deeds are done and gallant words are spoken, and the whole flows smoothly on to a happy conclusion, leaving the reader under a debt of grat.i.tude for a pleasing entertainment."

_The Birmingham Post_ says:--"The reader's enjoyment will be enhanced by delightful touches of humour which the author has interspersed among the many exciting and dramatic scenes of a stirring chronicle."

_The Liverpool Post_ says:--"A book that maintains interest at a high pitch from start to finish, and should command immediate success."

THE MAN OF THE HOUR

_The Aberdeen Free Press_ says:--"Abounds in striking situations and is dominated throughout by strong dramatic power."

_The Court Journal_ says:--"It is certainly one of the books of the hour, very interesting and distinctly clever."

_The Dundee Courier_ says:--"The story is admirably constructed and highly dramatic."

_Vanity Fair_ says:--"A very remarkably good story, told with much force and lightened by some very humorous observations of life and people."

COUNT ZARKA

_The Bristol Mercury_ says:--"A magnificent tribute to the author's power of imagination. It is well written; the author keeping his characters in hand with marvellous skill, and works out an intricate plot to a dramatic conclusion."

_The Yorkshire Herald_ says:--"Full of excitement. The plot hangs upon the disappearance of a Prince who has been kidnapped by Count Zarka, his foe, who condemns him to cruel torture, and imprisons him in a cunningly devised room in his castle. The story of the discovery of the Prince and of the final defeat of Zarka is a stirring one, and there is a strong love interest throughout the romance, which is heightened in the scene where the heroine is induced to fight a duel with swords by Zarka's jealous mistress."

_The World says_:--"Sir William Magnay's novel _Count Zarka_ is a clever and entertaining story; it affords us glimpses of forest scenery which we like, and one remarkable departure from beaten tracks, a woman's duel in earnest."

_The Dundee Courier_ says:--"The story is brightly and thrillingly told, and holds one through all its three hundred odd pages."