A solid, . . . well-written contribution to Hawthorne criticism . . . The author is thoroughly in control of what has been written about Hawthorne and skillfully places her own work in the context of this scholarship and criticism. So far as I know, she is the first critic to consider the probable influence of the 'perfectionists' on Hawthorne's art. She also enriches our understanding of the organic and the mechanical and offers perceptive readings of the major works.""

-Roy R. Male, University of Oklahoma