Ruth Arthur is reputed to have written well in previous books of teenage emotions, intrigue and the supernatural. [The Autumn People] fails to convince in any of these areas….

Throughout the story emotional attachments are portrayed at the level of a girls' magazine, characters are static and Rodger's occult powers in particular very stagey. The writer fails to convey any sense of period or to make the autumn people credible. After a quite promising opening the book tails away sadly. (p. 80)

Ruth Arthur is an adept at creating an eerie atmosphere and in building her stories for older girls round a mystery of the past. [The Autumn People] suffers, for when the reader reaches the third part he already knows what has happened in the past, and Romilly's discoveries are an anti-climax. Romilly's contact with the "Autumn people" lacks atmosphere and a feeling of the supernatural. The ending of the story seems unnecessarily fortuitous. (p. 324)

The Junior Bookshelf, October, 1973.