The word "unclay" that gives the title to Powys's novel comes from a poem by Jeremy Taylor, the 17th century Anglican divine and author of The Rule and Exercises of Holy Dying (1651), which was an influence.

[1] Death arrives to the obscure village of Little Dodder, Dorsetshire carrying a parchment of orders he must deliver with the names of two local mortals and the word "unclay" on it.

Mr. John Death, as the villagers call him, grows interested in human life and decides to take a vacation from his reaping.

Kirkus Reviews magazine defined the narrative voice as "satirical but generally gentle, even bumpkin-esque, and sometimes precious" and said it recalled Swift, Twain, Austen, and Jerome K. Jerome, as well as managing to "masterfully cover the spectrum of human failings, from petty to vile, with insight and humor.

[3] Jorge Luis Borges described the book as "Heretical, scandalous, and mocking, but essentially parables.