The first part was published posthumously by Secker as a long short story in the 1934 volume A Modern Lover.

This fragment was reissued in 1968 in the Phoenix II collection of Lawrence's assorted writings.

[1] It was finally published along with the introductory section in 1984 and describes the experiences of the main character during his elopement to the continent.

The book is characterised by a flippant, sarcastic tone as Lawrence reflects on the sexual behaviour and attitudes of provincial men and women in the period before the First World War.

According to Maddox, the critic Diana Trilling viewed the book as "biographical fact" and "was so shocked by its revelations of Frieda's casual promiscuity that she accused Lawrence of artistic dishonesty".