Mr Newby writes with an ease which conceals the utmost care and economy. He is wonderfully and intelligently inventive, and organises his material so well that this complex story [A Guest and His Going], with its many layers of interest, never strains the reader. He manages continually to surprise, though on examination it is seen that he has left clues everywhere so quiet is his manner. Occasionally, however, a development seems imposed from without; and perhaps the element of fantasy is a little too strong. But this humane comedy is one of the best things Mr Newby has done. (p. 871)

V. S. Naipaul, in New Statesman (© 1959 The Statesman & Nation Publishing Co. Ltd.), June 20, 1959.