Her novels tended to have romance plots set in New York or Philadelphia.

[2] Although Kirk wrote as a young woman, she did not publish her first novel until age 34.

[3] Contemporary reviewers considered her work somewhat old-fashioned, especially after the turn into the twentieth century, but some were charmed by the familiar plots and the absence of overt social commentary.

[4] Her 1898 Christmas book for young readers, Dorothy Deane: A Children's Story, was illustrated by Philadelphia artist Sarah Stilwell Weber.

[5] Ellen Warner Olney married author, editor, and librarian John Foster Kirk in 1879,[2] as his second wife.