The Times.—‘In a sense this novel is belated, being a straggler from the procession of books more or less directly concerned with the New Woman. This is a pity, for it is perhaps the best of the novels that have vindicated or mocked at that tiresome female.... Still it may be allowed that here we meet with less cant, less rancour, less prurience, less affectation of omniscience, more genuine philosophy, and a more careful style and more real literary power than in any other novel of the same school.’

The Athenæum.—‘The character-drawing is distinctly good. All the personages stand out well defined with strongly marked individualities.’

The Morning Post.—‘Clytie is made undeniably sympathetic while the author’s pictures of Bohemian life are bright and graphic.’

The Pall Mall Gazette.—‘The merit of the book lies in the description of the life of Clytie Davenant (the heroine) as an artist in London, of her friendship with Kent, her wooing by Thornton Hammerdyke, and the struggles of her married life. All this is portrayed, not in the grand style, but soberly, truthfully, and on the whole effectively.’

The Daily Chronicle.—‘This clever and somewhat audacious story.... We congratulate W. J. Locke, and shall be surprised if the reception accorded this book is not such as to cause him to congratulate himself.’

The Review of Reviews.—‘Here is a tale of women’s life in London in the present year, of varied societies, of a husband’s brutality, and of a woman’s fidelity, told with restraint, power, and originality. It is certainly one of the novels which mark a beginner out for attention.’

Vanity Fair.—‘After long course of flaccid, nerveless books that seem to have no raison d’être, it is refreshing to find a well-written novel whose characters seem “hewn from life,” and act as men and women really act.’

The Scotsman.—‘The story never drags and can be read from end to end. It seems to be a first work, and in its strength and vigour gives good promise for the future. The workmanship is careful and conscientious, while the characterisation is broad, human, and natural.’

The Manchester Guardian.—‘In depicting the friendship between Clytie and Kent the author shows both power and subtlety, and may fairly claim to have given us something new, for the portrayal of such a relationship between a man and a woman standing on an equal intellectual level has not been successfully attempted before.’

The Saturday Review.—‘The powerfully dramatic scene in the dancing rooms at Cairo would alone make the book worth reading. The humour, too, peculiar to himself is not lacking in Mr. Hichens’s novel. It is undoubtedly an artistic success.’

The Guardian.—‘There is no possible doubt as to the cleverness of the book. The scenes are exceeding powerful.’

The Graphic.—‘The story embodies a study of remarkable subtlety and power, and the style is not only vivid and picturesque, but in those passages of mixed emotion and reflection, which strike what is, perhaps, the characteristic note of late nineteenth century prose literature, is touched with something of a poetic charm.’

The Standard.—‘The setting of the book is vivid, and the effect of silence well imagined, so that the strange little drama goes on, and the reader watches it with an interest that does not suffer him to consider its absurdity.’

The Daily Chronicle.—‘It treats an original idea with no little skill, and it is written with a distinction which gives Mr. Hichens a conspicuous place amongst the younger story-tellers who are really studious of English diction.... It is marked out with an imaginative resource which has a welcome note of literature.’

The Daily Graphic.—‘A profoundly impressive study in psychology. The descriptions of the shadier side of Egyptian life are fresh and vivid; indeed, Mr. Hichens has a rare power of stimulating the reader’s imagination until it fills in what no one can write, and thus helps to create a vivid picture.’

The Scotsman.—‘It is no doubt a remarkable book. If it has almost none of the humour of its predecessor (The Green Carnation), it is written with the same brilliancy of style, and the same skill is shown in the drawing of accessories. Mr. Hichens’s three characters never fail to be interesting. They are presented with very considerable power, while the background of Egyptian life and scenery is drawn with a sure hand.’

The Spectator.—‘Several of his types are painted in with a fine combination of breadth of effect and wealth of significant detail.... Certainly a book which has not merely cleverness, but real vitality.’

The Speaker.—‘A novel of such remarkable merit, and written with such easy mastery of style. From first to last this striking and powerful story maintains a high level of excellence, betokening no ’prentice hand. It is a story teeming with humour and pathos, instinct with the irony of human fate, and quick to apprehend the subtle twists and inconsistencies of human character. Above all, it is deliciously original ... and told with great spirit, humour, and dramatic vigour. A vivid picture of a side of life upon which little light has been cast by our novelists since Dickens laid down his pen.’

The Morning Post.—‘On the whole realistic; this presentment of Holland in London has certain impressionist touches that are decidedly effective.... All the tragedy of the book centres in the figure of Peter van Eijk, a creation which says much for the author’s imaginative powers.’

The Daily Telegraph.—‘A singular little novel, which has so undeniable a power of its own.’ (Mr. W. L. Courtney.)

The Globe.—‘The literary treatment is fresh and impressive.... The author shows skill in all its characterisations, his mastery of Dutch idiosyncrasy being obviously complete.’

The Daily Chronicle.—‘One does not care to put the book down till the last page is turned.’

The Westminster Gazette.—‘Vivid in portraiture, vivacious in manner.... The combination of close observation and grim sardonic humour gives the book a decided charm....The pathetic figure of Peter is drawn with a tenderness which indefinitely enlarges our impression of the author’s dramatic possibilities.’

The Weekly Sun.—‘Has the great merit of introducing us to a new world.... What a delightful creation Mrs. de Griendt is. Indeed, I should personally have been glad if we had had more of her. Whenever she appears on the stage she fills it with her presence, and you can see her, hear her, watch her with fascination and incessant interest.... I think the reader will agree with me that I have not exaggerated the literary merit of this exquisitely-described scene.’ (T. P. O’Connor, M.P.)

The Review of Reviews.—‘You will enjoy reading it.’

The Glasgow Herald.—‘A striking and amusing novel.... The author has a pleasant gift of humour, and has shown distinct originality.’

The Aberdeen Daily Free Press.—‘In the publication of this and kindred works, Mr. Heinemann is doing much to maintain the freshness and vigour of our English fiction....He has seldom provided a pleasanter and yet more bracing work than the Drama now before us.... As a mere story it will carry delight to even the most unthinking.’

The Times.—‘Since Mrs. Gaskell wrote her Mary Barton we have seen no more interesting novel on the condition of the working classes. Mr, Tirebuck is thoroughly master of his subject.... A vivid and impressive narrative of the great coal strike of a couple of years ago.’

The Literary World. —‘Every reader anxious to hear of a work that is full of brains and vigour may unhesitatingly enter Miss Grace of All Souls’ upon his list of books worthy to be perused.... Mr. Tirebuck, not content with providing “Grace” for our admiration, has made another claim upon our love by presenting us to Nance Ockleshaw. For her sake alone Miss Grace of All Souls’ should be read, and we hope that the novel will make its way into many a home, there to be considered with all the care that is due to it.’

The World.—‘The most remarkable contribution made by fiction to the history of the working classes since Mary Barton, and it has a wider range and import of deeper gravity. It appeals directly to the thoughtful among readers, those who care to learn, on the object-lesson plan, the facts and aspects of life among the multitudes, with whom they are brought into actual contact. The girl who is its central figure is an original and very attractive character.’

The Daily Chronicle.—‘An uncommonly well-told story, interesting from first to last. Mr. Tirebuck has drawn a truly delightful character in the miner’s wife; indeed, the whole family might well have been sketched straight from the life. It is difficult to make a work of fiction at once instructive and entertaining, but Mr. Tirebuck has done it in Miss Grace of All Souls’.’

The Pall Mall Gazette.—‘An admirable piece of work. Here is realism in its proper proportions: the rude, harsh, Methody life of the northern miner engraved in all its essentials. Mr. Tirebuck manages to illustrate the conditions of miners’ lives for us with complete fidelity. Not a touch of the humour, the pathos, the tragedy, the grime, the sin, and the ideals is lacking.... Mr. Tirebuck has done his work to perfection. The story is not a moral tract, but a work of art of great significance.’

The British Weekly.—‘Mr. Tirebuck is a practised and powerful novelist, and in this story he has taken us right inside the heart of the poor. His description of the collier’s wife is wonderful work.’

The Manchester Guardian.—‘As a picture of working men and women, instinct as it is with knowledge, sympathy, passion, and conviction, we have seldom, if ever, read anything so good.’

The Manchester Courier.—‘The character of Miss Grace reminds the reader of the heroine of Charles Kingsley’s Westward Ho.’

The Athenæum.—‘Told with a force and directness that hold the reader’s attention throughout.... A stirring and interesting novel.’

The Academy.—‘As a study of character, the work is admirable.’

The Saturday Review.—‘A finely conceived study. The book is true without being sordid—realistic in the better meaning of the word; and we have read it with the greatest interest and some stirrings of emotion.’

The National Observer.—‘The strong and true spirit of the husband gives an ennobling study of humanity worth many plots. Miss Sergeant has risen to her earlier level in this book, a fine study of character, and it is only just to say that it is also strong in detail.’

The World.—‘A work to which the much-used adjective “beautiful” may be applied with full intention and strict justice.‘

The Daily Chronicle.—‘Miss Sergeant has given her best matter, treated in her best manner.’

The Daily News.—‘A moving story. In the delineation of the softening of the man’s spirit, and of the mental struggles by which he reaches to forgiveness of his wife, Miss Sergeant shows a fine imagination. This is the best book of Miss Sergeant’s that has come under our notice for some time.’

The Globe.—‘Miss Sergeant follows her hero with a rare grasp of descriptive detail. The concluding chapters of the book reach a high level of pathos, dignity, and convincing humanity.’

Black and White.—‘Gideon Blake is a fine creation and the record of his devotion to the unworthy Emmy, an his attempted expiation of her sins, is forcibly wrought. The closing tragedy, simply treated, is impressive.’

The Literary World.—‘The story is well put together, and has points of more than passing interest and importance.’

The Scotsman.—‘It is in the development of the great theme of a man’s undying constancy to his erring partner, and his eventual forgiveness of her offence, that the author rises to a height of true dramatic power seldom attained in the modern novel. On its merits the story is worthy of a high place in contemporary fiction.’

Birmingham Daily Post.—‘The character of Gideon Blake, the intense and strong-minded husband of the fragile Emmy, is a fine creation, based on the harder types of moral grandeur.’

Bradford Observer.—‘The tale is sincerely and touchingly written. Its characters are veritable flesh and blood.’