“To picture a scheming woman who is also attractive and even lovable is not an easy task.... To have made such a woman plausible and real in the midst of modern New York life is what Miss Stuart has achieved in this novel. And the other characters reach a similar reality. They are individuals and not types, and, moreover, they are not literary echoes. For a writer to manage this assortment of original characters with that cool deliberation which keeps aloof from them, but remorselessly pictures them, is a proof of literary insight and literary skill. It takes work as well as talent. The people of the story are real, plausible, modern creatures, with the fads and weaknesses of to-day.”--_N. Y. Life._ “The strength of the book is its entertaining pictures of human nature and its shrewd, incisive observations upon the social problems, great and small, which present themselves in the complex life of society in the metropolis. Those who are fond of dry wit, a subtle humor, and what Emerson calls ‘a philosophy of insight and not of tradition,’ will find ‘Averages’ a novel to their taste.... There are interesting love episodes and clever, original situations. An author capable of such work is to be reckoned with. She has in her the root of the matter.”--_N. Y. Mail and Express._ Stonepastures. 12mo. Cloth, 75 cents. “The story is strongly written, there being a decided Bronte flavor about its style and English. It is thoroughly interesting and extremely vivid in its portrayal of actual life.”--_Boston Courier._ BY ELLEN THORNEYCROFT FOWLER. _A DOUBLE THREAD._ 12mo. Cloth, $1.50. “The excellence of her writing makes ... her book delightful reading. She is genial and sympathetic without being futile, and witty without being cynical.”--_Literature, London, Eng._ “Will attract a host of readers.... The great charm about Miss Fowler’s writing is its combination of brilliancy and kindness.... Miss Fowler has all the arts. She disposes of her materials in a perfectly workmanlike manner. Her tale is well proportioned, everything is in its place, and the result is thoroughly pleasing.”--_Claudius Clear, in the British Weekly._ “An excellent novel in every sense of the word, and Miss Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler is to be congratulated on having made a most distinct and momentous advance.”--_London Telegraph._ “We have learned to expect good things from the writer of ‘Concerning Isabel Carnaby,’ and we are not disappointed. Her present venture has all the cleverness and knowledge of life that distinguished its predecessor.”--_London Daily News._ _CONCERNING ISABEL CARNABY._ No. 252, Appletons’ Town and Country Library. 12mo. Cloth, $1.00; paper, 50 cents.