Children's novelist Eleanor Cameron wrote, "Farmer writes with style. She is vivid in her depiction of place: on almost every page, scattered with colorful figures of speech, we are drawn into the school and the surroundings of the school through sights and sounds and smells and textures... above all we are moved by the depth and poignancy of the relationship between Charlotte and Emily." She continues, "Farmer is always gifted in her grasp of possibilities that bring us up short with surprise and delight and satisfaction."