He tells of a life woven of darkest
threads, full of pity and pathos, lighted up by that rare and quaint
humour that made his first book so attractive. "The Rat-Pit" tells the
story of an Irish peasant girl brought up in an atmosphere of poverty,
where the purity of the poor and the innocence of maidenhood stand
out in simple relief against a grim and sombre background. Norah Ryan
leaves her home at an early age, and is plunged into a new world where
dissolute and heedless men drag her down to their own miry level. Mr.
MacGill's lot has been cast in strange places, and every incident of
his book is pregnant with a vivid realism that carries the conviction
that it is a literal transcript from life, as in fact it is. Only
last summer, just before he enlisted, Mr. MacGill spent some time in
Glasgow reviving old memories of its underworld. His characters are
mostly real persons, and their sufferings, the sufferings of women
burdened and oppressed with wrongs which women alone bear, are a
strong indictment against a dubious civilisation.
HERBERT JENKINS LD., 12 ARUNDEL PLACE, LONDON, S.W.
* * * * *
10,000 COPIES CALLED FOR IN 10 DAYS.
CHILDREN OF THE DEAD END
The Autobiography of a Navvy. By PATRICK MACGILL. Crown 8vo. Price
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MANCHESTER GDN. "A grand book."
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SATURDAY REVIEW "An achievement.
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