Macaulay began writing her first novel, "Abbots Verney" (published 1906), after leaving Somerville and while living with her parents at Ty Isaf, near Aberystwyth, in Wales. Later novels include "The Lee Shore" (1912), "Potterism" (1920), "Dangerous Ages" (1921), "Told by an Idiot" (1923), "And No Man's Wit" (1940), "The World My Wilderness" (1950), and "The Towers of Trebizond" (1956). Her non-fiction work includes "They Went to Portugal", "Catchwords and Claptrap", a biography of John Milton, and "Pleasure of Ruins". Macaulay's fiction was influenced by Virginia Woolf and Anatole France.