By 1931, White was married to Tom Hopkinson and was friends with novelist Djuna Barnes, and she was with Barnes when the latter wrote her now famous novel depicting a lesbian affair gone bad, "Nightwood". This novel was based on Barnes's relationship with Thelma Wood. In 1933, White completed her first novel, "Frost in May", which fictionalized her experiences at Catholic boarding school and her expulsion. She also began writing a second novel, but a failed marriage and mental illness hindered its completion.