"There can be no question that 'James Hepburn' is the most notable Scottish story that will be issued in the jubilee year."—The Christian Leader.
"And of this tendency towards pure character-painting and everyday incident Miss Sophie Veitch promises to be the best exponent. In the two volumes which contain the story of episodes in the life of James Hepburn, each character is carefully studied and presented as a finished masterpiece.... The book is a drama palpitating with intense and real life, whose author should have a grand professional future."—Whitehall Review.
"The book deserves the highest praise. Hepburn's relations with Lady Ellinor—his pure and noble love for her—are fitly crowned by his splendid self-sacrifice.... The descriptive part of this fine and often brilliant novel is admirably done."—London Figaro.
"No one who begins this story will pause till he has seen the hero through his troubles, and we are sure no one who has done so will think he has spent his time badly."—The British Weekly.
James Hepburn is a story of very unusual power, promise, and desert.... The story of Lady Elinor is exceedingly pathetic; and all her moods, as she gradually progresses along a path of peril, are described with a hand at once sure and delicate.—Academy.
Seldom do we meet with a novel by a comparatively unknown author which can afford such unalloyed pleasure.... It is not every writer who can, like Mrs. Oliphant, throw a glamour over the sordid details of bourgeois life. Amongst the few who can do so Miss Veitch may now claim to rank; her novel is a remarkable one, and if it does not attain to considerable popularity the fault will not be with the author.... There is intense pathos in the loyal struggle of the beautiful young wife who believes herself to be unsympathised with.... We had marked more than one passage for quotation, but space warns us that the pleasure must be forgone. We must, however, draw special attention to Lady Ellinor's withering summary of Radicalism (vol. ii. p. 242). The novel is one of the very few that follows Mr. Weller's recipe, and makes us "wish that there was more of it."—Pictorial World.
"A Successful Scotch Novel.—It is long since a Scottish novel met with such a demand or created such a genuine sensation as has attended the publication of 'James Hepburn, Free Church Minister,' which was issued a few weeks ago by Mr. Gardner, of Paisley, and which we noticed in the week of its publication. We hear that already Mr. Mudie has ordered four separate supplies, the latest being for a large number of copies, so great is the demand for the story on the part of the subscribers to his library. Miss Sophie Veitch, the authoress, had already made her mark by her fine novel of 'Angus Graeme, Gamekeeper.'"—Daily Mail.
"'James Hepburn,' by Miss Veitch, is a clever and strong novel.... Its power and literary skill are undeniable."—World.
"Novel-readers who may think there is not much promise of entertainment in the title which Sophie F. Veitch has chosen for her new story, will commit the common blunder of forming an erroneous judgment from superficial appearances. A more interesting or vigorously-written tale we have not met with for some time back."—The Scottish Leader.
"A cleverly written story here includes both interesting incident and well-drawn character."—The Queen.