The idea for a collection of short stories had originated in 1944, when Hamish Hamilton contacted Welch with a view to publish some of the work that had already appeared in magazines and journals, along with unpublished pieces.

In 1947 an attempt to interest his contracted publisher, Routledge, in nine short stories, ended in rejection, and mindful of the earlier approach, Welch returned to Hamish Hamilton.

[citation needed] The short story "Brave and Cruel" concerns a wayward, charismatic character called Micki Beaumont, and his arrival into the lives of a group of middle-class friends.

[5] "The Fire in the Wood" is (narratively) entirely fictional, written in the third person, and is the only story which features a female, called "Mary", as the principal character.

[11]In his 1974 analysis, Robert Phillips stated that the collection included some "of Welch's most remarkable achievements"[12] and that it "deserves to be reprinted and made available again.