"THKACIA SEA."

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2384, 13 February 1915, Page 5

"THKACIA SEA."

Mr. John Helston's oddly named novel, "Thracian Sea'' (LoniloriY.Evelelgh Nash.), is a somewhat unexpected production to come from the auinor of those powerful and beautiful poems, "Aphrodite," etc., which attracted so much attention about a year ago., But unexpected though it be, it is assuredly a story which proves that, its author has a line future before him as a writer of fiction. The moral of Jim Burkett's matrimonial experience is that even an uttorly selfish young man may sometimes live to. recognise that in empty and selfish pleasures lie the "Dead iiea ashes" of life, and that conventional comfort can be attained at too great a sacrifice of self-respect. \ The 1 parson lover of Burkett's wife is by no means a convincing figure, but one . can forgive much in a story which contains so fine a character- as Burkett's peasant sweetheart, to whom, in his hour of disillusion with life, as he has hitherto deemed it worth living, he turns for rest and comfort. Racing plays a prominent. part in the story, which, in its own way, is just as forcible an exposure of the folly of betting on the Turf as was George Moore's unforgettable "Esther "Waters." In his preface, Mr. Helston expresses a > fear that his So-cialistic-opinions may affright some of his readers. But beyond some stinging satire on the amug self-complacency of i the English well-to-do middle class', and th© selfish ease''of ; their lives, there is ( little in .the story which even hints at Socialistic ideas. If it has a fault at all, the story is a trifle too long, and, in places, a triSe too wordy. But it is, on the whole, a strikingly original and' promising piece of work.