During a later sojourn in the United States, Ford was involved with Allen Tate, Caroline Gordon, Katherine Anne Porter and Robert Lowell (who was then a student). Ford was always a champion of new literature and literary experimentation. In 1929, he published "The English Novel: From the Earliest Days to the Death of Joseph Conrad", a brisk and accessible overview of the history of English novels. He had an affair with Jean Rhys, which ended acrimoniously,which Rhys fictionalised in her novel "Quartet".