From the first instalment of the serialisation of the novel in THE SYDNEY MAIL, 30 July 1919:
"Our new serial, "Captain Jim," is by Mary Grant Bruce, whose reputation as a writer has been a steadily growing influence in Anglo-Australian literary circles for some years past. She achieved great success with children's stories, and we can name no Australian writer who has shown more sympathy with, and understanding of, the child mind. In her more mature work, of which "Captain Jim" is the latest example, Mrs. Bruce re-impresses the reader with her innate sense of literary style. Her appeal to the adult reader is a summons to the best that is in human nature, and yet there is no tawdry sentiment. Our serial is as breezy as the hills of Gippsland, where the talented authoress spent her early days. Quite recently she returned from England. "Captain Jim" is not a war story, although it is of the war period and gives glimpses of khaki. The major characters are Norah Linton, a big-hearted, fearless, Australian girl; David Linton, her father, an Australian sheep-farmer, from whom his family gels its vein of optimism and good humour; Captain Jim Linton, Norah's soldier brother, who has some exciting adventures; and Wally Meadows, Jim's soldier chum—a machine-gunner of typical Australian build and spirits. Of hardly less importance are Miss de Lisle, an English cook, and Allenby, an English disabled ex-sergeant, who proves a trump at the right time. The story rings with truth and scintillates with humour."
