AustLit

Scheuerle argues that the romantic attitudes found in Geoffry Hamlyn reflect Kingsley's "boyish joviality" which enabled him to create characters and a story of "vigorous action" that entertains. The absence of hardship emphasizes the romance of the novel and the return of the characters to England asserts that the proper place for such "good" people is in England.

Challenges H.M. Green's judgement that William Gosse Hay's talent was 'not of the first order, even by Australian standards'. Investigates the basis of this reputation by examining Hay's sources of information for his historical novels, and the use he made of some of them in The Escape of Sir William Heans. Concludes that Hay, as an historical novelist, adhered as closely as he knew how to historical fact and succeeded in subordinating the historical element to the artistic demands of the whole.