Hall Caine

The Prodigal Son Hall Caine

This is an Iceland story, like "The Bondman," but totally different in spirit and treatment. It is a modern rendering of the Biblical parable of the same name, with a strong appeal for the elder brother, and it is intended to say that an evil act once done can never be undone. Some of the incidents take place on the Riviera, the "far country," in which the prodigal son wastes his substance. When he returns home he finds, not the "fatted calf" awaiting him, but the wreckage caused by his conduct.

"The Prodigal Son" was published simultaneously in eight foreign countries, and was even more warmly praised abroad than at home. Nearly half a million copies of it have been sold in the English editions. It was dramatized for Drury Lane Theatre and produced with great success.

The Westminster Gazette says: "In truth, a work that must certainly rank with the best in recent fiction."