London of the restoration and of the plague form the setting of this keenly interesting historical novel. Romance, bloodshed, corruption, intrigue and love feature the story, whose two principal characters are worth knowing. These are Colonel Randall Holles, victim of circumstances and, for a time, of his own despair, and Sylvia Farquharson, a famous actress. Famous actress she was, indeed, and one against whose name no one had a right to throw a stone; yet she lived in an age when to be a “play actress" was to have to fight for a reputation among Puritans and cavaliers alike. But the story tells all this and more — enough, indeed, to make Miss Sylvia a woman to remember, Colonel Holles a man to admire and Sabatini an author to
read not only in this story but — if one happens to be unfortunate in his past reading — also “Scaramouche” and “The Sea-Hawk," and others of the romances that have made his literary fame.
