Farewell, Nikola
# Farewell, Nikola

Farewell, Nikola is a novel by Australian writer Guy Boothby. It was his fifth, and final novel to feature his recurring character Dr. Nikola. It was published in book form in the United Kingdom by Ward, Lock and Bowden in 1901. The book is also known by the title Nikola's Farewell, the title under which it was serialised in several Australian newspapers in 1901, including The Brisbane Courier, The Daily Telegraph (Sydney) and The Chronicle from Adelaide.

## Abstract

"In Farewell, Nikola we are introduced anew to the characters, or at any rate some of them who figured in that early book of Mr Boothby's In Strange Company, which told of that strangely eventful search for the quaint Chinese stick which involved Dick Hatteras, the lady who became his wife, and Dr. Nikola in such hairbreadth happenings. This time, however, we meet them in far different surroundings. Sir Richard Hatteras and his wife are in Venice, with the Duke of Glenbarth, and a girl named Gertrude Trevor, when Nikola again crosses their path. He is as inscrutable, as mysterious as ever, and has installed himself in an ancient palace with an unsavoury reputation, where he carries on his scientific and occult researches. We learn for the first time the story of his birth and up-bringing, and we are treated to an engaging evidence of his overpowering passion for revenge, the subject of which is the son of the man who betrayed his mother."

## Publishing history

Following the book's initial newspaper serialisation, and then publication by Ward, Lock and Bowden in 1901 it was subsequently published as follows:

* Lippincott, 1901, USA
* Langton and Hall, 1901, Canada

The novel was translated into Swedish (1902) and Danish (1916).

## Critical reception

In The Brisbane Courier a writer noted: "There is no need to recommend the novel to readers. Mr Boothby has, perhaps, the widest reputation of any of the present-day novelists of adventure, and his name as the author of any book is sufficient criterion of the presence in its pages of enough 'thrills' to satisfy the most exacting of those who put quick movement and a string of hairbreadth escapes before anything else in their appreciation of a work of fiction."

The writer in Adelaide Observer observed: "Farewell, Nikola will be welcomed by readers who revel in a sensational tale, skilfully constructed, and captivating the imagination. Mr. Guy Boothby may without hesitation be classedamong the most prolific storytellers of the day."

