SOURCE: “Compton Mackenzie's The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett (1918),” in Popular Fiction in England, 1914-1918, Harvester Wheatsheaf, 1992, pp. 91-103.

In the following essay, Orel evaluates the major strengths and flaws of The Early Life and Adventures of Sylvia Scarlett and concludes that “the incidental pleasures and the overall readability” of the novel are apparent to the reader.

Compton Edward Montague Mackenzie, born on 17 January 1883, died at a venerable age, on 30 November 1972. His parents were theatrical people: his father an actor-manager in charge of the Compton Comedy Company, and his mother an American actress. The grandfather on the paternal side had also been a well-known actor, and his grandparents on the maternal side had run the Lyceum Theatre in London, where Henry Irving had appeared; and by blood the family was related to the Siddons, the Kembles and a number of other distinguished acting families. Fay Compton...