THE LATE MR. GEO. GISSING'S LAST NOVEL.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 32, 7 February 1905, Page 3

THE LATE MR. GEO. GISSING'S LAST NOVEL.

"WILL WAKBCKCON."

It is a vividly told story ot a man of breeding whose (with his mother's) small fortune is lost through the speculation, of his partner-—a good fellow whom Warburton had credited with a business acumen he did not really possess. Dp to this crisis Warburton had been happy and generous, but irresponsible and without knowledge of the reah.ties of the life about him. Warburton conceals from relatives and friends the loss of money and the step he takes to enable him to pay interest npon his m-other's capitaL This is nothing less than "going into trade" as a grocer. The deception causes him mote worry than the new and. sordid life .does. Here, indeed, he is gallantly helped by a well-drawn character, possessing no little humour—Aeehin, the assistant. Warburton still keeps op his connection -with an old friend, Franks, who does clever portraits at high prices, hut is leaving true art further and further Dehind. The main rove element in the novel, which is admsably done, centres round these two men, Rosamund Ehvyn (beautiful but shallow) and Bertha Cross (-whose quiet demeanour conceals the outstanding abEtty within). The chapters wtrieh tell the story of Warburto-n's losre for Rosamund Eiwyn —his hurried, passionate pursuit of her to the Pyrenees—the feefing which possessed htm when he found that he had been misted and that Rrjsamrmd was marrying Franks—these are wonderfully done, in a manner few novelists have erjnailed. But the whole story reveals the truest insight into human nature and a masterly power of expressing results. The reader feels that the story is in praise of honesty, and his warm sympathies are drawn out towards the struggling middle-class and poor of oar great cities. Their goodness te one another and their hope anrid the sordid surroundings of their sfe impresses him. He sees that the highest type of human love must be fed on virtue, and that the sucrsessful life is the straightforward and "simple" one. The ■'Aueklana Star" has been fortunate enough to secure this remarkable literary work for its readers. The first instalment appears to-morrow, and the novel will subsequently continued on Saturdays-and Wednesdays,