Margaret Drabble, herself much influenced by Angus Wilson's writing, traces his early years as a librarian at the British Library, interrupted by a grim spell in the code-breaking huts at Bletchley Park, and then his meteoric rise as novelist, critic, lecturer and man of letters following the publication of his first volume of stories, "The Wrong Set", in 1949. It also describes the extraordinary range of contacts he made and maintained around the fixed point of his relationship with Tony Garrett (his friend and companion of 40 years), and his role as an influence and mentor for a younger generation of writers.