AustLit

In "The Solitary Way," a new serial story, which will commence in the "Herald" on Monday next, Mr. J. M. Walsh, a rising Australian author, who has already several interesting works of fiction to his credit, moves with a keen insight in the political and social circles of the Victorian capital. The author, possesses a pleasant and facile style and vivid imagination, and these qualities he cleverly applies to a wide knowledge of men and affairs. A captivating romance, in which is bound up the struggle of a brilliant youth against an almost over-mastering vice, forms the basis of the story. But it is not in the theme alone that the author makes his appeal. His vivid sidelights on human nature, all true to life and type; his sparkling wit; and his mastery of clever repartee, all combine to afford much entertainment and not a little profit to the reader. A vein of mild cynicism, such as may be excused in a bachelor of comfortable circumstances and middle age, who has survived the disillusionment that come to most people and settled down to the realities of life gives a piquancy to the comments and reflections of one of the principal characters, who acts as the narrator. By reason of its Australian setting and authorship the story has, of course, a special interest.

The Sydney Morning Herald, 9 April 1925, p6.