Miller married his first wife, Beatrice Sylvas Wickens, in 1917; their divorce was granted on December 21, 1923. Together they had a daughter, Barbara, born in 1919. They lived in an apartment at 244 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn. At the time, Miller was working at Western Union; he worked there from 1920–24. In March 1922, during a three-week vacation, he wrote his first novel, "Clipped Wings". It has never been published, and only fragments remain, although parts of it were recycled in other works, such as "Tropic of Capricorn". A study of twelve Western Union messengers, Miller called "Clipped Wings" "a long book and probably a very bad one."