But she did not share the luxuries of her characters. Me used to hear criticisms of her novels as picturing the idle rich. Ward’s life as here described was an unremitting round of toil. The result is that three quarters of the book is a dead level, an oft-repeated story of the writer’s struggle against family cares, interruptions, weariness, pain. In this case the daughter is too reserved - too anxious lest she violate decorum. A biography written by an affectionate relative is seldom a great book. But truth to tell, it is doubtful if the biography will make a new enthusiasm for Mrs. Her Life, by her daughter, ought to revive interest in her books in those who read them as they came from her pen, and create it in the younger novel-readers for they were of good craftsmanship and their portraiture of Victorian England was substantial and significant. HUMPHRY WARD was the author of twenty-five novels, and her books found a large and appreciative audience.
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