“One of the most authentic books ever written about the English…. Funny, touching and so real that the smell and taste of London seem to rise from its pages.”
“Eloquent…. Wry and ribald…. [Lessing’s] impressive gifts for characterization and dialogue, her skill as a raconteur and her tartly humorous style combine to make In Pursuit of the English readable and amusing.”
“No other writer, from any continent, has this raceless, classless fellowship com bined with total physical receptiveness…. Mrs. Lessing has always been more than a regional moral messenger; she is a prospector into the minds, spirit and senses of all, imaginatively at home anywhere.”
“A magnificent book, quite staggering in its penetration of the ordinary working-class Londoner’s nature.”