At the age of 21, Hall came into a substantial sum of money from her father, giving her the security and freedom to leave home. She's said to have written poems and songs from the age of three, and in her twenties, published some books of poetry. She was encouraged by her first long-term lover, amateur singer Mabel Batten, to try her hand at short stories, and was then persuaded by a publisher to write a novel. Her first, The Unlit Lamp, was published in 1924. Two years later, her fourth, Adam's Breed, won a clutch of prizes and sold 27,000 copies in its first three weeks.
