In August 1926, Connolly met Desmond MacCarthy, who had come to stay at "Big Chilling". MacCarthy was the literary editor of the "New Statesman" and was to be another major influence on Connolly's development. MacCarthy invited Connolly to write book reviews for the "New Statesman". Later that year, Connolly made a trip to Budapest and Eastern Europe and then spent the winter of 1926–1927 in London. Pearsall Smith took Connolly with him to Spain in the spring, and Connolly then set off on his own to North Africa and Italy. They met up again in Florence, where Kenneth Clark was working with Bernard Berenson who had married Pearsall Smith's sister.