At Bedford Square he was seen as a brash outsider, and was thoroughly disliked by everyone except William Plomer. Jonathan Cape read only a few chapters of Fleming's first offering, "Casino Royale", and none of his subsequent books, and would never meet the author. Wren Howard, Jonathan's partner, customarily referred to him as "that bounder". Michael Howard wrote: "the book itself repelled me and caused me sleepless nights, for I thought that its cynical brutality, unrelieved by humour, revealed a sadistic fantasy that was deeply shocking, and that the book would do discredit to the list."
Norman Lewis, The World, The World.