One of the Visconti, A Novelette

A delightful little tale is Eva Wilder Brodhead's "One of the Visconti," and the range of its merits is sufficiently wide to give pleasure to readers of very diverse tastes. The setting is picturesque, the story is vivaciously told and so full of color and movement, that the most inert consumer of fiction who takes it up simply for an hour's amusement will find himself abundantly entertained. On the other hand, those who derive half their enjoyment in reading from the exercise of their own critical intelligence will find a distinct satisfaction in Mrs. Brodhead's technical equipment as a novelist. "One of the Visconti" is a novel in miniature, and it has the delicacy of finish properly belonging to such work. The construction is excellent, the texture of the story is firm and close, the characters are clearly outlined, and their interaction is admirably managed.

The book is a harmonious and well-balanced piece of work. and such conscientious and graceful literary craftsmanship is all to rare to pass unnoticed in the days of jerry-built novels. Of the three couples whose fortunes the story follows through an Italian winter, the most absorbing are not the young Kentucky lawyer and the daughter of the house of Visconti, but rather, the Fannings, the cultivated woman from Cincinnati, and her out-grown husband.