Quote by Maurice Baring

The volume gathers stories and sketches that draw upon classical allusion and contemporary urban life, with the title piece invoking the myth of Orpheus in a modern West End setting. The contents reflect the literary conventions of the fin de siècle period, combining polished social observation with occasional ventures into the fantastic or mythological. The shorter sketches complement the longer narratives, offering impressionistic glimpses of metropolitan manners and character types familiar to readers of the era's periodical literature. The collection belongs to a genre of British magazine fiction that flourished during the 1880s and 1890s, when writers regularly contributed both substantial stories and lighter topical pieces to illustrated monthly journals. more