Dr. Cronin's second novel ["Three Loves"] is less powerful but more convincing than its predecessor—"Hatter's Castle"; it is less fantastic and more modern; less gripping, perhaps, but more moving. In short, it is not so extraordinary a feat of virtuosity, imitative but effective, but it is a more genuine piece of work. Both novels are laid in Scotland near Glasgow. The time of "Three Loves," which centers on the turn of the century, is a generation later. And the second, like the first, is essentially a psychological drama, based on the life of a single individual—although melodrama is freely used to heighten effects. The writing is smooth and flowing, failing in emphasis, however, and lacking in original distinction….

In "Three Loves" Lucy Moore is another strong person in a small sphere. She clutches at life instead of letting it flow around her. She seizes, refusing merely to accept. She butts her head against stone walls and dies unyielding. The objects of her love must succumb to her boundless emotional vitality, be purged and recreated in her flames. Her husband first, then her son, and then Jesus are to be molded in the heat of her love. She must manage, rule, order, dictate, out of her devotion. She must possess and they must acquiesce in that possession. Just as James Brodie [in "Hatter's Castle"] had to dominate or die, so Lucy Moore must possess, emotionally, or perish. And in both instances the ruling passions develop increasingly until they become psychopathic. Dr. Cronin, with a physician's logic, follows the course of human motivations to their extreme conclusions….

The book has a few exceptionally strong passages. The episodes involving Miss Hocking, whose queerness suddenly develops into mania, are of unusual interest and in their symbolic significance add luster to the novel…. The last third of the book is a bold piece of representation in its picture (not at all sensational) of convent life. The author's approach toward religion is obviously that of an unsympathetic, essentially hostile rationalist.

"Three Loves" is a sound, serious and moving novel, made of stronger stuff than most of the English novels, which are said to be reviving the Victorian tradition. This is not to say that its author is another Hardy, or that his novel, touching on a similar theme, is a new "Sons and Lovers."