[7] Reviewing Tomlinson's first novel, The Flither Pickers (1987), about the hard lives of Yorkshire fishermen's wives, the magazine Junior Bookshelf called it "a most distinguished novel which is also a convincing piece of historical reconstruction.
The Horn Book Magazine review by Martha V. Parravano forecast that "middle-grade girls will be hooked immediately by the private hideaway with a sense of mystery surrounding it," and by Tomlinson's tale, which "unfolds, living up to its enticing premise.
"[citation needed] The Forestwife (1993) was praised by the US Publishers Weekly for portraying Maid Marian as "more than a glorified moll to the Merry Men," but the reviewer noted also "a heavy-handed and somewhat self-righteous social agenda" that eclipsed the story-telling.
[8] Completion of the Forestwife Trilogy (with Child of the May, 1998, and Path of the She-Wolf, 2000) led to a 2001 interview with Allen W. Wright, in which Tomlinson looked beyond story-telling to argue that young people should "read widely and have the opportunity to consider many different role models and ways of life, so that they can make up their own minds about what is right for them."
[citation needed] Tomlinson told an English Association interview that her favourite childhood books were The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis and Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden In adulthood she became attracted to the work of Alan Garner and Jane Gardam.