“In the school of the historic novel N. Themelis appears as the most old-fashioned pupil. He creates the causes, goes on to the effects, finishes with one cycle of events and opens up another, relates one cycle to the next, he creates suspense. In other words, he gives us something of the 'human comedy' from the viewpoint of Balzac. If he had called his book Helen instead of Overthrow, we would now be confronted by a more relaxed version of a cousin Bertha, a Cousin Pons, a Cesar Biroteau, a Eugene Grandet...”