Children of the World: by Ellen F. Pinsent: Methuen and Co.: This is a curious and, in some senses, a striking story. Mrs. Pinsent has plenty of ideas and writes cleverly, but we cannot say that her book strikes us as at all “inevitable.” Her aim, if we are to judge from the hint given in the title of the book, is to illustrate the saying that “the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light.” The heroines are two Newnham girls, both in a sense modern woman, but strangely different in type, Rachel Millman is a thoroughly religious, not to say pietistic girl, full of Christian, fervour, while her bosom friend, Janet Mauleverer, has studied herself into some agnostic frame of mind, and something of a pessimist. Janet, in spite of her views of … independence, marries money and a title, and Rachel, after falling in love with a married man, commits suicide to save herself from her passion. We cannot say these conclusions follow from the authoress’s premises. But then she may retort that life is not logical. Quite so: But art should be; and though Mrs. Pinsent spends a good deal of genuine ability in the development of her thesis, “Children of this World” remains an unsatisfactory if unquestionably a clever book.
Transcribed in whole or part from scanned originals: Presented with or without modified text and punctuation. For absolute accuracy refer to the original newspapers. Source: The British Newspaper Archive.
Referenced
GRO0245 Devonport: Ellen Frances Parker: 1866 – 1949