STANDARD—“Mrs. Steel’s book is healthy and well written, full of rational optimism and sympathetic understanding of poor human nature.”
DAILY CHRONICLE—“Judge it by what canons of criticism you will, the book is a work of art.... The story is simple enough, but it is as life-like as anything in modern fiction. The people speak and act as people do act and speak. There is not a false note throughout. Mrs. Steel draws children as none but a master hand can draw.”
BLACK AND WHITE—“It reveals keen sympathy with nature, and clever portraiture, and it possesses many passages both humorous and pathetic.”
NATIONAL OBSERVER—“Her cleverness reveals itself in many a felicitous phrase expressive of just judgment and earnest thought.”
ST. JAMES’S GAZETTE—“It is such as goes far towards the making of a solid and enduring reputation.”
GLASGOW HERALD—“Her book is a notable one.”
SCOTSMAN—“It is not every day that one lights on a story so entertaining, clever, and at times even brilliant.”
PUBLISHERS’ CIRCULAR—“The story is thoroughly interesting throughout, being clever alike in its style, plot, and character drawing.”
WESTMINSTER GAZETTE—“Red Rowans is far and away above the average of novels, and, without doubt, one of those books which no reader of current fiction should miss.”
DAILY NEWS—“The book is written with distinction. It is moving, picturesque, the character drawing is sensitive and strong.”