The Sentimental Adventures of Jimmy Bulstrode

Jimmy Bulstrode can afford to answer begging letters and give freely to strangers, yet wealth offers little comfort for his own loneliness. In Marie Van Vorst's novel, the generous bachelor loves Mary Falconer, a married woman whose vows he treats as binding. The opening finds him beside a winter fire near Washington Square in New York, considering her invitation to a Christmas gathering. Her letter about the season's sadness brings his carefully managed feelings into sharper focus.

Arranged as eight adventures, the story follows Jimmy through encounters in which money, affection and personal honor pull him in different directions. A later passage brings him face to face with Felicia Warren, who asks him to see her perform in London, before the narrative returns him to Paris. Readers interested in social fiction and complicated attachments will find a central figure whose readiness to help other people sits uneasily beside his own unmet hopes.