The book was Engel's fifth novel, and her sixth piece of published writing. Engel studied under author Hugh MacLennan, finishing her Master's of Arts at McGill University in Montreal in 1957. Her first novel, No Clouds for Glory, was released in 1968. She was awarded a Canada Council grant on the strength of the book, but had difficulty finding a publisher for her second novel, The Honeyman Festival. The book was published in 1970 by the new Toronto company House of Anansi Press, which would also put out another novel, Monodronos, and a collection of short stories, Inside the Easter Egg.