E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature from its Foundations to 1935 (1940): 652 describes the novel as 'a moral story' and states that it 'refers to Sydney and Melbourne society in the 'eighties, including races at Randwick and Flemington; with references to station life and Australian troops in the Sudan.' Margaret C. Murphy's Women Writers and Australia (1988): 29 comments: 'Curate, believing in celibacy, is still in love with heroine but she rejects his suit.'