CHICAGO TRIBUNE:

“Lydia Bailey is a rich, long, never lagging book, triumphantly ranging over half the world and more than half of human hopes and follies. It shows Kenneth Roberts’ special power of bringing the past to full and unforgettable life, and in its anger at political selfishness and stupidity it has a harsh, barbed meaning for today. If 1947 produces a better novel, it will be a notable year for American fiction.”—Walter Havighurst

LOS ANGELES TIMES:

“Capture, enslavement, escape; battle and romance—and Lydia Bailey, who herself rises high among the women of fiction. If you know anyone now living who is able to excel Kenneth Roberts in writing historical novels, please name him. He respects history; he uses history; he respects truth and knows human nature. And he can spin a yarn so that you despise sleep!”—Paul Jordan-Smith

TRENDING INTO MAINE

BOSTON HERALD:

“Roberts knows his Maine, its history, geography, literature, legend, tradition, and people. It is his other Eden, his more than demi-paradise. For him it has a better than happy breed of men. It is the one spot beloved over all. He writes, therefore, something more than a native’s appreciation, something better than a nicely tempered panegyric, a something which in its masculine passions disproves the old notion that a Maineman’s reach cannot exceed his grasp. Trending into Maine is an exhilaratingly lyrical book, with a warm glow over it, and a clean wind through it, and an unspoken challenge and invitation in it that sets a man’s eyes gazing northward.”—Charles Lee.

NEW YORK TIMES:

“Readers who have made Mr. Roberts’ acquaintance in one of his novels will recognize him in Trending into Maine, but with a difference. Freed from the trammels of plot, sustained character, and stylistic pattern, he lets his hair down, puts his feet up, and talks about what interests him most. He can’t look at a bit of Maine scenery without having his mind filled with stories and people: ‘Red men puttering about their lodges’; ’long, unhappy lines of women and children … trudging silently through the snow to the eastward and to Canada, pushed and shouted at by painted Indians’; ’wives and children of sea captains, waiting patiently through long Winters for those sailing on far-off waters’; ‘Arnold’s men, hunkered uncomplainingly among their bateaux on the river bank above Augusta …’ It’s a rambling, eloquent, colorful, lovable book.”—R. L. Duffus.

SATURDAY REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

“When Kenneth Roberts isn’t writing an historical novel (which isn’t often), he takes one peck of ripe tomatoes, puts them through a sieve, and adds vinegar, allspice, mustard, and powdered cloves. The result is ketchup. Or he rows out between the ledges at half tide and fishes for cunners. Or he retraces Arnold’s route to Quebec. Or he mixes up a batch of letters, notes, and clippings and produces a book like Trending into Maine, into which he pours some of his ketchup, most of his great-great-grand-mothers, and every ounce of his passionate admiration for the state of Maine. Trending into Maine is not so much a book as it is a visit with Kenneth Roberts. He takes you into the kitchen, sits you down by the stove, hands you a doughnut, and stuffs you full of Arundel, Maine traditions, Maine smells, Maine people, the hardships of soldiering, the pleasures of ducks’ breasts, the bravery of sea captains’ daughters.”—E. B. White.