Publisher's Synopsis
The Siege of the Seven Suitors by Meredith Nicholson, published in 1910. The reader with an active imagination will get the most pleasure out of this comedy of mysteries. Above everything, he should not take it seriously; even the author does not seem to do that. It is an impossible story of two sisters who are to be married off by a rich but eccentric maiden aunt.She relegates the younger, Hezekiah, to the background until Cecilia is settled, and being superstitious about the number seven evolves a cheme which is the motif of the story. There is a laughable lover-trust, the pursuit of a smoke-ghost by the chimney doctor, and, incidentally, a pretty little love story, but it is elusive, like the whole plot. Meredith Nicholson (1866-1947) was a best-selling author from Indiana, United States, a politician, and a diplomat. Largely self-taught, Nicholson began a newspaper career in 1884 at the Indianapolis Sentinel."We live in an era of horseless carriages, wireless telegraphy, husbandless wives and wifeless husbands. I have hit upon a formula which I am tempted to utilize hereafter when I meet husbandless women.When they are introduced I shall ask: -Shaken, Or taken?signifying in the first instance a loss by way of Nevada, or, in the second, through the pearlier gates of that Paradise which is the hope of us all."The Siege of the Seven Suitors marks a new development of Mr. Meredith Nicholson's art. In The House of a Thousand Candles and other works he has told an improbable story in a probable manner; his last book, a serious novel of the business drama type, placed him among the leading American fiction writers; but The Siege of the Seven Suitors differs considerably from its predecessors. The author shows that he has a considerable gift for the creation of eccentric characters, he places less reliance in the drawing powers of a strong plot, and he makes use of to us, at any rate a surprisingly keen sense of humour. In a word, this is Mr. Nicholson's first true comedy. The hero shows his Transatlantic origin in his profession-he is a Consultant in Chimneys, or, as he more frequently describes himself, a flue doctor. As for the heroines (for there are two of them-sisters), there is oodles of money in the family, for their grandfather scored big in baby-buggies. We do not feel inclined to spoil the readers enjoyment by giving away details of the plot, but mention must be made of Miss Olivia Hollister, the heroines aunt, who has so pathetic and yet so satisfying a belief in the powers of romance and the numeral seven. Indeed, it was entirely owing to her that there were seven suitors. We have enjoyed Mr. Nicholson's latest book immensely, and we believe that it shows a considerable advance upon his earlier work.
