[1] The interior chapters are by Rayner Heppenstall, Eva Figes, Gillian Freeman, Jane Gaskell, Wilson Harris, Olivia Manning, Adrian Mitchell, Paul Ableman, John Bowen, Melvyn Bragg, Vincent Brome, Peter Buckman, Alan Burns, Barry Cole, Julian Mitchell, Andrea Newman, Piers Paul Read and Stefan Themerson.

(Greater London Arts Association) offered a prize of £100 to anyone who correctly identified each chapter's author.

John Whitley writing in The Sunday Times said the novel had little merit, citing the poorly drawn characters whom he described as "cloudy menaces" and the book's numerous continuity errors.

[2] Jim Hunter in The Listener complained that the chapters seem very alike, and little of the prose distinct but felt that "the book has its moments" and that "the amicable co-operation of even three, let alone 20 novelists has rarity value.

"[3] Valerie Grosvenor Myer writing for the Tribune complained that "ultimately such eccentricity and wilfulness break up the book.