Number Eight

Having finished book 7 on the list of the top ten best selling novels of 1917, I've begun reading number 8, His Family by Ernest Poole. Poole was awarded the first Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1918 for this novel - although critic Dennis Drabelle maintains that His Family is inferior to Poole's earlier novel, The Harbor and is less deserving of the Pulitzer.

For those too lazy to click the earlier links, the list of the top ten best selling novels of 1917 follows:



1) Mr. Britling Sees It Through by H. G. Wells
2) The Light in the Clearing by Irving Bacheller
3) The Red Planet by William J. Locke
4) The Road to Understanding by Eleanor H. Porter
5) Wildfire by Zane Grey
6) Christine by Alice Cholmondeley
7) In the Wilderness by Robert S. Hichens
8) His Family by Ernest Poole
9) The Definite Object by Jeffery Farnol
10) The Hundredth Chance by Ethel M. Dell

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Hichens' In the Wilderness is my favorite of the seven I've read so far. Tied for 2nd place would be Mr. Britling Sees It Through and Christine. The Red Planet and The Road to Understanding are tied for 3rd, with The Light in the Clearing and Wildfire dead last.

Poole's novel is interesting, and it's too early to know how it will compare with others on the list - I don't foresee it surpassing Hichens' novel in my view, however.