"The remarkable achievement of The Virgins is to present all encounters and characters from the sometimes simplistic perspective of its adolescent heroine ... who is discovering the "vocabulary and syntax" of passion, politics and personal rebellion" - Weekly Mail (Johannesburg)

"Jillian Becker's novel is the best I have read this year. It is almost impossible for an adult to re-enter the world of adolescence and to describe it convincingly, without super-imposing judgment or allowing mature embarrassment to cloud the rawness of adolescent emotion, yet Mrs Becker has succeeded." - The Times

"What lifts this slight tale on to a plane of art is the marvelously assured way in which it is unfolded. Miss Becker writes so well; and she observes the tensions and terrors of Black and White and Coloured with deep understanding." - Daily Telegraph

"The Virgins ... is unusual: in its deftness, economy and depth of psychological understanding ... This story is told with great subtlety and insight. Miss Becker's technical skill is not obtrusive; but it is exactly adequate to the frightening story she has to tell. Her distancing of herself from her material is beautifully judged, and brings its poignancies out in full ... A most distinguished and chilling novel." - Financial Times