Cirrus@Austlit

E. Morris Miller's Australian Literature From Its Beginnings to 1935 (1940): 749-750 comments that this is the first collection of O'Ferrall's short stories under his own name. It observes that : 'O'Ferrall's stories reflect whimsical phases of city life. He rarely wanders into the bush. He finds his subjects in restaurants, boarding houses, hotels, newspaper offices, streets and parks. Romantic episodes are not common. He discovers bizarre situations in which he places beings, both animal and human, that delight us by their effective distortions. They are easily recognizable in their Australian settings, but might be transported to city environments in other parts of the world. O'Ferrall uses no guile, has no surprises, and indulges rarely in sensationalism. Everything that happens is just what one is led to expect. The humour is in the situation. O'Ferrall's approach has the air of casualness. His characters win one's interest, if not one's sympathy. This result is due to his artistry. He knows how to disengage what is human from natural surroundings. As a depictor of episodes and moods O'Ferrall has to be reckoned with in any critical study of the Australian short story.'