" In the end, "South Riding" let me down, however gently. The first half and a bit more of the book is the sort of story and prose that is wallowingly comfortable for me if not brilliant. Although the intermittent bits of lyrics were off putting but then I don't enjoy musicals either (usually). By the last pages, however, it was difficult not to gag as the writer's entrenched patriotism for England, "that green and pleasant land" came to the fore to drown out all else. Odd bird of a book, to be sure. Not sorry I read it; not relishing the taste it left in my mouth. I don't mind agendas in books but I don't much like it when same leaks all over the pages and ruins the story and causes the reader to think the story wasn't, in the end, the point. "
— Kat, 12/10/2013