"A charming book." -Globe "This autobiography of a cultured and observant woman, full of enthusiasm for nature, and with a shrewd sense of humor." -Literature "Vivid and delightful style of writing….She is a fascinating being….Elizabeth is original or nothing. Whereas most of these books have some sort of plea, put forward for their existence, such as gardening, housekeeping, or the like, Elizabeth's book frankly concerns Elizabeth. Her garden, though it appears on the title-page, and on many another page of her volume, is obviously incidental, and even the Man of Wrath partakes of this nature as well as the April, May and June babies. One realizes that, although Elizabeth may be rather fond of them, she could very well reconcile herself to life without them. She is profoundly interesting to herself as well as – let me frankly confess it – to the reader. It is the book of Elizabeth which we have to consider, with a German garden and a few necessary impediments thrown in….Will attract an enormous audience." -Eclectic Magazine and Monthly Edition of the Living Age "A very bright little book – genial, humorous, perhaps a little fantastic and wayward here and there, but full of bright glimpses of nature and sprightly criticisms of life. Elizabeth is the English wife of a German husband, who finds and makes for herself a delightful retreat from the banalities of life in a German provincial town by occupying and beautifying a deserted convent." -Times "'I love my garden' – that is the first sentence, and reading on, we find ourselves in the presence of a whimsical, humorous, cultured, and very womanly woman, with a pleasant, old-fashioned liking for homeliness and simplicity; with a wise husband, three merry babes, aged five, four, and three, a few friends, a gardener, an old German house to repose in, a garden to be happy in, an agreeable literary gift, and a slight touch of cynicism. Such is Elizabeth. The book is a quiet record of her life in her old-world retreat, her adventures among bulbs and seeds, the sayings of her babies, and the discomfiture an rout of a New Woman visitor….It is a charming book, and we should like to dally with it." -Academy "The garden in question is somewhere in Germany….Its owner found it a wilderness, has made it a paradise, and tells the reader how. The book is charmingly written….The people that appear in it are almost as interesting as the flowers….Altogether it is a delightful book, of a quiet but strong interest, which no one who loves plants and flowers ought to miss reading." -Scotsman "No mere extracts could do justice to this entirely delightful garden book." -Manchester Guardian