WALPOLE'S "VANESSA"

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 103, 28 October 1933, Page 22

WALPOLE'S "VANESSA"

CHRONICLE CONCLUDED

The fourth and concluding volume of tho famous chronicles of the Herries family has rnado its appearaneo in "Vanessa" (Macmillan), and Hugh Walpolc thus brings to an end several years of labour. The action of the novel covers the years 15.75 to 1932, and so brings the history of tho Herries family quite up to date. . The pej-iod includes the early nineties, the Boer War, the Edwardian splendours, the Great War, the General Strike; and Mr. • Walpole, beginning in crinolines, ends with his lively portrait of Sally, modern of the modems, Judith Paris's great-granddaughter. The social scene is here, as iv all these Herries volumesi important, and we watch the Bancrofts and Irving at a grand party, listen to Oscar Wilde on Othello, and are tickled by feathers on Mafeking Night. Tho most important fact about "Vanessa," however, is that it is from first to last a love story—the story of-the uneha'nging, undying love of Vanessa and Benjamin Herries. This history of their love brings the wheel full circle, uniting at last the two warring strains of the Herries character. So, tlie aim of two hundred years achieved, Cumberland is emptied again of the Herries—only one wanderer remains on the same Bpot that ono wanderer visited exactly two hundred years before. The collectors' edition of this novel, limited to 315. copies, and each signed by the author, was fully subscribed for ) before the date of publication. The ordinary edition has been in very big demand in England, and the novel is regarded as ono of the best sellers of the English autumn season.