After earning his master's degree, he moved to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. While there, he married the novelist Dorothy Baker, and met and was influenced by Ernest Hemingway and Ford Madox Ford, who helped him to publish his first work, the autobiographical novel Orange Valley (1931).
After securing his master's degree, he proceeded to Paris to study at the Sorbonne. It was there that he married novelist Dorothy Baker and came into contact with influential writers Ernest Hemingway and Ford Madox Ford, who enabled him to bring out his first literary effort, the autobiographical novel Orange Valley (1931).