Marion and Celia Moss were Jewish poets and sisters who published this book of poetry together when they were 16 and 18 years old. Karen Weisman writes on the novel, saying, "[Early Efforts] is a volume laden with multiple—and often mutually contradictory—presentations of subjectivity, many of them relating to their Jewish authors’ consideration of England as a nation, an idea, and as an anchor for identity." In other words, the volume was a look at England through a Jewish perspective, and though it might not have been extremely effective in this right, Weisman argues that the volume of poetry is an early landmark in Anglo-Jewish Romanticism. 

Early Efforts sheds some light on England's contradictory treatment of Jews during this time. Weisman explains how the English population has been "alienating, sheltering, dismissive, [or] grudgingly tolerant" of its Jewish section at alternating times. The book covers material that is relevant to Jews and material that is not. The style of the poetry varies as the girls were influenced by romantic poets as well as Victorian female poets.