M. Green, in his "History of Australian literature, Vol.I" (1984), described Stone as, “The most outstanding of the novelists of city life and one of the most outstanding of all the periods novelists.” Green regards the most striking character in "Jonah"not the protagonist, Jonah Jones, but Mrs Yabsley, the enormous, illiterate old washerwoman, who he describes as, “one of the most real and memorable characters in Australian literature.”

In 1933, "Jonah" was republished by Percy Stephensen; it was also published in the United States as "Larrikin".