Francis Hopkinson Smith (October 23, 1838 – April 7, 1915) was a United States author, artist and engineer. He built the foundation for the Statue of Liberty, wrote many famous stories and received awards for his paintings.
A very pleasant novel, easy to read and hard to put down, When I got to the last page and saw that there was only one paragraph left, I thought, NO WAY there should be a dozen pages left to explain all but no, the author did it in the one paragraph, well done.
One quote I liked Men are like books. It is their insides I care for, no matter how badly they are bound. The half calf or all morocco sort never appeal to me. Shelf fellows seldom handled , I call them, and a man who is not handled and rubbed up against, with a corner worn off here and there is like a book kept under glass. nobody cares anything about it except as an ornament and I have no room for ornaments.
Felix O'Day is a titled Englishman who is currently in New York City and quickly running out of funds. As usually happens in these stories, local people who aren't much better off themselves are more than willing to help this complete stranger to find a job and a place to stay. The purpose of Felix being in America is he's looking for his wife who ran off with another man.