Life
1865-1920 [Frank James Mathew]; b. Bombay, grand-nephew of Fr. Mathew; called ‘the writer we have all been waiting for’ in Pref. to Cabinet [ed. T. P. O’Connor]; wrote Father Mathew, His Life and Times and several historical romances based on Irish wars, incl. The Spanish Wine which is set at Dunluce Castle (1898). CAB IF SUTH DIL2
Works
Father Mathew, His Life and Times (London: Cassell 1980); At the Risisng of the Moon: Irish Stories and Sketches (London: John Lane; Chicago; Way & Williams 1893); The Wood of the Brambles (London: John Lane; Chicago; Way & Williams 1896); A Child in the Temple (London & NY: John Lane 1897); The Spanish Urn (London & NY: John Lane 1897); The Spanish Wine [set at Dunluce Castle] (London & NY: John Lane 1898); One Queen Triumphant (London & NY: John Lane 1899); Defender of the Faith (London & NY: John Lane 1899); Love of Comrades (London & NY: John Lane 1900).
Commentary
W. P. Ryan, The Irish Literary Revival (1894), sketch of Frank Mathew: first wrote a life of his grand-uncle, the Irish apostle of temperance; At the Rising of the Moon, racy, observant, good story-teller; recently abandoned law for literature, and set himself to write a novel of Wexford in the days of ‘98. [115]
References
John Sutherland, The Longman Companion to Victorian Fiction (Longmans 1988; rep. 1989) - bio-data: b. Bombay, son of civil engineer, and grand nephew Fr. Mathew (Life, 1890); ed. London Univ., grad. 1888; barrister, m. 1899; fiction often with romantic Irish themes and rambling narratives considered charming; novel incl. At the Rising of the Moon (1893), 20 tales in west of Ireland; The Wood of the Brambles (1896), story of 1798; A Child in the Temple (1897); The Spanish Wine (1898); A Defender of the Faith (1899); The Royal Sisters (1901), i.e. Elizabeth and Mary. British Library holds 8 titles.
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