"... We have no hesitation in saying that Mrs. Burnett's new work is one of the most moving novels of the year ... and it contains scenes of a most tender and pervading sweetness.... As is always the case in Mrs. Hodgson Burnett's best work, it is the lovableness of her characters which gives such charm to her pages.... To pass from scenes of keen pathos to others of such tender charm, from the piteous figure of Margery to that of the radiant Sheba, is an employment which, however affecting to our emotions, is very fascinating.... It is an exceedingly attractive novel."—Daily Telegraph.
"Mrs. Burnett has never written better than in this story. She has never delineated character more delicately, more sympathetically, her pathos has never been truer, her humor more engaging. The book gives one the impression of having been written with great and worthy care. No writer, not the very ablest, who made a point of turning out, say, three novels a year, could possibly have done anything so good as 'The De Willoughby Claim.' The book is well worthy to be read, and will be read by the wise."—Daily Chronicle.
Vroni: The Weaver's Heart's Dearest. By the late Blanche Willis Howard. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, price 6s.
"'Vroni' is one of those pathetic and charming stories which the reader does not readily forget. 'Guenn' we had learnt to regard as Miss Howard's masterpiece, but in point of artistic finish, and perhaps in power, 'Vroni' takes a higher position. It is the only novel, we believe, which has for its heroine a 'cook,' for such is Vroni Lindl, daughter of Dionysius, the weaver, born and reared in the bleak hill-country between the Danube and the Neckar, known as the Rough Alp. Dionysius was a simple man, peasant born 'with gentle ways and a soft mode of speech'; and Vroni, his little mädel, was devoted to her father—indeed, worshipped him. It is this wonderful affection between father and child which forms the vein of gold that runs through the story. One word best expresses our feeling regarding the story—it is delightful."—Birmingham Post.
John Gilbert, Yeoman: A Romance of the Commonwealth. By Richard Soans. Frontispiece and Vignette Illustration by Lancelot Speed. In crown 8vo, cloth gilt, gilt top, price 6s.
"The stirring times of the Commonwealth afford a fine setting for the romance, 'John Gilbert, Yeoman,' by R. G. Soans. It is an ambitious work, but the author has produced a story which will bear comparison with the best historical fiction of modern writers. It is far above an immense mass of novels sent out recently; it is what may be described as a strong story, containing nothing flimsy or trivial, and in certain features it even recalls the romances of Scott. Nothing seems out of joint—foreign to the picture. What is presented is a seventeenth century England with seventeenth century figures. There is no undue straining after effect or of the probabilities.... Events, exciting and dramatic, follow fast upon each other, and the interest is closely rivetted till the end. It is a story which deserves to find many readers."—Scotsman.
"Quite a fragrant fresh feeling, redolent of the breezy rolling Surrey Downs, in which the story is laid, comes to one in reading the adventures, love, troubles and vicissitudes of the young hero farmer.... Not the least recommendation of this romance of the Commonwealth is its freedom from anything repulsive or objectionable."—Weekly Sun.