The Spectator: ‘The emergence of a book so fresh, so original, and so wholesome as “The Sheep-stealers” is peculiarly welcome at a time when we are bidden to believe that all normal and native themes are exhausted. We have been surfeited of late with the novel of “smart” society. As an alternative to these lavishly upholstered chronicles of corruption in high life we can cordially recommend Miss Jacob’s powerful and engrossing romance of Herefordshire and Brecknock in the early “forties.” It deserves to rank along with “The House with the Green Shutters” in the limited category of those tales of the countryside in which there is nothing provincial, particularist, or parochial. Like all stories that deal faithfully with rural life in a remote and unfrequented neighbourhood, it is somewhat sombre in tone; but it is free from the crushing pessimism of the novels of Mr. Hardy, the writer to whom on his best and most poetic side Miss Jacob is most closely related. The portraiture of the principal characters is quite in keeping with the remote, unsophisticated surroundings. All are intensely and primitively human in their passions and virtues. We have seldom read a book in which a lowly theme was treated with a happier mixture of romance and realism. Indeed, few novelists of recent years have set themselves so high a standard in their initial effort as Miss Jacob, whose work is singularly free from the faults of a novice. Her style is excellent--lucid, natural, unaffected--her energy is under control; she understands the art of self-effacement, of omission, of reticence, and she is as successful in dealing with her gentle as with her simple characters. So remarkable an achievement indicates patient preparation, and affords an excellent guarantee that the author will not be beguiled by her immediate success into the adoption of those methods which degrade creation into manufacture.’ The Scotsman: Miss Jacob has infused into her story some of that rare topographical and atmospheric charm which is to be found in such books as Stevenson’s “Catriona” or Hardy’s “Far from the Madding Crowd.” “The Sheep-stealers” is a delightful book, a story interesting throughout, well conceived, admirably sustained, and in parts very finely written.’ The St. James’s Gazette: ‘Good work, careful and delicate, with touches of passion and of humour.’ The Daily Telegraph: ‘The name of the authoress of “The Sheep-stealers” is unfamiliar, but it will unquestionably be heard of again. If this is Miss Violet Jacob’s first essay in fiction, she is to be congratulated most warmly upon a very powerful piece of work. Her characters stand out clearly and sharply, and the local colour is as vivid as it is in “Lorna Doone” or “The Return of the Native.” Her originality of theme and treatment is unmistakable. “The Sheep-stealers” is a very good novel: it only just misses being a great novel.’