“It is, both in construction and workmanship, very unlike the usualflimsy story which does duty as a modern novel. This book is more likethe fiction of some fifty or sixty years ago, when the appearance of anovel was, to a certain extent, an event in the world of letters.”—TheSpectator.

“There is much sound work in the novel; quaint local customs areconscientiously reproduced, and the characters, with the exception of arather shadowy heroine, are living beings.”—The Athenæum.

“The book is thoughtfully as well as cleverly written, and at leastmaintains the promise of its forerunners.”—The Times.

“The character-drawing is strong and clear, the run of the incidentperfectly natural, and the outlook kind and manly in a spirit that putsto the blush a great deal of meretricious and catchpenny work.”—PallMall Gazette.

“Mr. Onions’s canvas is crowded with well-drawn characters, and thewhole presents a particularly lively and clever study of Yorkshire lifeand manners eighty years ago.”—The Academy.

“Here he is thoroughly at home, and he writes with rare insight anduncommon skill of the country folk of our dales.”—Leeds Mercury.

“The present story derives its main interest from the liveliness of itspresentation of the countryside and rustic character of Yorkshire, asthese appeared to the observant eye in the earlier half of thenineteenth century.”—The Scotsman.

“As we have said, the book is devoid of sensationalism of any sort; but,for all its quiet tone, it is one of the few books of the season worthcareful reading, and worth also a permanent place in any library.”—TheWestminster Gazette.

“Mr. Onions, who knows his Yorkshire nearly as well as any writer of thetime, has improved amazingly, and ‘The Drakestone’ is of sufficientlyhigh quality to make one anticipate with interest his next book.”—TheYorkshire Post.

“It is a strong book all round, and the culminating catastrophe—thebreaking-in of the marsh upon the moorland—is well rendered andeffective. The work is one which will repay study, and we have fewliving writers who could better it.”—The Sheffield Daily Telegraph.

“It is an olla podrida of vivid sketches of Yorkshire life, morefaithfully conceived and picturesquely rendered than we have ever seenbefore.”—The Daily Mail.

“The humble lives of the peasant folk, their jealousies, bickerings andjunkettings, take their proper place as background to the working out ofthe Drake prophecies, while the chief figures are limned with rare skilland insight. A clever and deeply-interesting book.”—The LiverpoolPost.