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 a daring and delicate hand. The execution of the painting is as perfect as the conception. It is a book for the enjoyment of a feeling heart and vigorous understanding."—Blackwood's Magazine.

"For many years there has been no work of such power, piquancy, and originality. Its very faults are on the side of vigour, and its beauties are all original. From out the depths of a sorrowing experience here is a voice speaking to the experience of thousands. It is a book of singular fascination."—Edinburgh Review.

"Almost all that we require in a novelist the writer has; perception of character and power of delineating it; picturesqueness, passion, and knowledge of life. Reality—deep, significant reality—is the characteristic of this book."—Eraser's Magazine.

"The peculiar power which was so greatly admired in 'Jane Eyre' is not absent from this book. It possesses deep interest, and an irresistible grasp of reality. There is a vividness and distinctness of conception in it quite marvellous. The power of graphic delineation and expression is intense. There are scenes which, for strength and delicacy of emotion, are not transcended in the range of English fiction."—Examiner.

Shirley' is an admirable book; totally free from cant, affectation, or conventional tinsel of any kind; genuine English in the independence and uprightness of the tone of thought, in the purity of heart and feeling which pervade it; genuine English in the masculine vigour or rough originality of its conception of character; and genuine English in style and diction. It is a tale of passion and character rather than of incident; and, thus considered, it is a veritable triumph of psychology."—Morning Chronicle.