The Sins of Severac Bablon by Sax Rohmer

On Kindle via Project Gutenberg

Another of Rohmer's non Fu Manchu novels first published in 1914 and with a plot that would most certainly not find a publisher today.

It is inferred in the book that Severac Bablon (is this an anagram?) is a descendant of Jewish royalty but be that as it may he certainly considers that the acquisitiveness of Jewish businessmen is giving the whole people a bad name.   His solution is to force several prominent financial figures to give large well publicised donations to charity and when I say large the sums of fifty or one hundred thousand pounds at 1914 prices cause a sharp intake of breath.   The methods he uses are typical of this type of fiction at the time.   He is always several jumps ahead of his pursuers, is a master of disguise, he has adherants at all levels of society and is always the perfect gentleman.   Such a plot, such a character appear laughable today but the quality of Rohmer's writing overcame any modern doubts and kept this readers attention to the end.

Once again one is aware of the debt modern readers owe to Project Gutenberg who make available books that would never find their way into print again yet are a part, even if some do not wish to recognise the fact, of our literary heritage.