The novel was published by Chatto & Windus in 2002 and in the United States by Alfred A. Knopf, another division of Penguin.

The novel is the final in a tetralogy, preceded by The Virgin in the Garden (1978), Still Life (1985), and Babel Tower (1996).

[1] Jonathan Walker, in a paper published by Contemporary Literature, referred to the series of books as the "Frederica quartet".

[2] Byatt herself expressed a preference for The Virgin in the Garden quartet when speaking about it ("It isn't Frederica's book--though she's the sort of person who would muscle in and try to take it!")

and noted her publisher's intention to produce a boxed set, simply titled The Quartet.