[2] It went unnoticed on initial publication but then received an effusive review by respected critic Alfred Noyes of The Sunday Times who called it "the sort of novel Keats would have written", which brought it to public attention and it became a bestseller,[3][4] and according to The Guardian a "landmark book of the interwar period".

[5] Its success allowed her to leave her then husband and run off with maverick artist Wogan Philipps whom she later married.

Childhood friendships develop into romantic entanglements that continue as Judith leaves home for Girton College, Cambridge.

[4] With the exception of Alfred Noyes, most contemporary reviews concentrated on what was perceived as the author's unhealthy preoccupation with sex.

[2] The Evening Standard cited Dusty Answer and Alec Waugh's The Loom of Youth as being a "corrupting influence" on the young.