Noel Streatfeild Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Phyllis Bentley

Critical Essay by Phyllis Bentley

Too much of Parson's Nine reads like E. M. Delafield's Diary of a Provincial Lady with the wit left out. The Reverend David Thurston's wife struggles to bring up her nine children decently on a parson's income, the while they prattle as never children did on sea or land. Then comes the war, the sensitive Baruch's tragedy and his twin's grief. The earnest sincerity of this novel Courtesy of William Collins Sons & Co., Ltd.makes one loth to condemn; but the 180 pages of childish reminiscence are really too many for an adult mind.

Phyllis Bentley, "New Novels: 'Parson's Nine'," in The New Statesman & Nation (© 1932 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), Vol. 3, No. 68, June 11, 1932, p. 778.