Algernon Blackwood

“ It is refreshing always to come across a genuine singer who is not afraid to sing simply of common things; and when that singer is possessed, as evidently Mrs. Gurney is, of a brave and wholesome view of life, the result may be more than merely refreshing: it may be inspiring. ”

“ Gurney’s poems reaching thousands of readers, could they but be known, for it is a book to carry out with one into the woods, upon the hills, to read on a voyage or in the train, to dip into at night before sleep comes, or to open on a dull and weary day and catch its light and hope and beauty. ”

“ In these days of so much pretentious, tortured verse, it is delightful to listen to a voice like this, sincere and unaffected, giving melodious and felicitous expression to the common moods that are familiar to us all. Her vision runs like a thread of light through all the day’s events, touching each with beauty. Her gift, for all its modest humility, is no small one; you feel, moreover, the person of the singer behind all she writes: one who is brave enough to find some light and colour even when the darkness seems most hopeless:
“Sometimes when I was near you
The tears would fill my eyes ”