[1] It is the second in the author's "Langton Tetralogy" (which comprises The Cardboard Crown, A Difficult Young Man, Outbreak of Love and When Blackbirds Sing)[2] and it won the ALS Gold Medal in 1957.

[3] The novel continues the story of the Langtons, an Anglo-Australian family based in Melbourne, who have never truly come to terms with their place in Australian society.

Like the first novel in the series, this book is narrated by Guy Langton and concerns the younger son Dominic, a man who ideals and actions are considered both eccentric and unacceptable to the Melbourne society of the time.

To their names can now be added that of Martin Boyd, for the sensitive appeal and literary skill of his latest novel "A Difficult Young Man."

There are unmistakable signs that in this comparatively late novel, Boyd, after sitting agonised for so long on the fence that divides his two worlds has put his foot down on the southern side of it.