"'The Prodigal Son' is indeed a notable novel; and a work that may certainly rank with the best of recent fiction...."--_Westminster Gazette_. D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. * * * * * "A beautiful romance of the days of Robert Burns." Nancy Stair. A Novel. By Elinor Macartney Lane, author of "Mills of God." Illustrated. 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. "With very much the grace and charm of Robert Louis Stevenson, the author of 'The Life of Nancy Stair' combines unusual gifts of narrative, characterization, color, and humor. She has also delicacy, dramatic quality, and that rare gift--historic imagination. "'The Life of Nancy Stair' is interesting from the first sentence to the last; the characters are vital and are, also, most entertaining company; the denouement unexpected and picturesque and cleverly led up to from one of the earliest chapters; the story moves swiftly and without a hitch. Robert Burns is neither idealized nor caricatured; Sandy, Jock, Pitcairn, Danvers Carmichael, and the Duke of Borthewicke are admirably relieved against each other, and Nancy herself as irresistible as she is natural. To be sure, she is a wonderful child, but then she manages to make you believe she was a real one. Indeed, reality and naturalness are two of the charms of a story that both reaches the heart and engages the mind, and which can scarcely fail to make for itself a large audience. A great deal of delightful talk and interesting incidents are used for the development of the story. Whoever reads it will advise everybody he knows to read it; and those who do not care for its literary quality cannot escape the interest of a love-story full of incident and atmosphere." "Powerfully and attractively written."--_Pittsburg Post_. "A story best described with the word 'charming.'"--_Washington Post_. D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. * * * * * WIT, SPARKLING, SCINTILLATING WIT, IS THE ESSENCE OF Kate of Kate Hall, By Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, whose reputation was made by her first book, "Concerning Isabel Carnaby," and enhanced by her last success, "Place and Power." "In 'Kate of Kate Hall,' by Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler, the question of imminent concern is the marriage of super-dainty, peppery-tempered Lady Katherine Clare, whose wealthy godmother, erstwhile deceased, has left her a vast fortune, on condition that she shall be wedded within six calendar months from date of the testator's death. "An easy matter, it would seem, for bonny Kate, notwithstanding her aptness at sharp repartee, is a morsel fit for the gods.