1928, he branched out into prose, with Memoirs of a Fox-Hunting Man, the anonymously-published first volume of a fictionalised autobiography, which was almost immediately accepted as a classic, bringing its author new fame as a prose writer. The memoir, whose mild-mannered central character is content to do little more than be an idle country gentleman, playing cricket, riding and hunting foxes, is often humorous, revealing a side of Sassoon that had been little seen in his work during the war years. The book won the 1928 James Tait Black Award for fiction. Sassoon followed it with Memoirs of an Infantry Officer (1930) and Sherston's Progress (1936). In later years, he revisited his youth and early manhood with three volumes of genuine autobiography, which were also widely acclaimed. These were The Old Century, The Weald of Youth and Siegfried's Journey. Personal life Affairs Sassoon, having matured greatly as a result of his military service, continued to seek emotional fulfilment, initially in a succession of love affairs with men, including: William Park "Gabriel" Atkin, the landscape architectural and figure painter, draftsman and illustrator Ivor Novello, actor Glen Byam Shaw, actor and Novello's former lover Prince Philipp of Hesse, German aristocrat Beverley Nichols, writer The Hon. Stephen Tennant, an aristocrat Though Shaw remained Sassoon's close friend throughout his life, only Tennant made a permanent impression. Introduced by the Sitwells in 1927, Sassoon and Stephen Tennant fell passionately in love, beginning a relationship which would last nearly six years. Tennant, however, had recurrent tuberculosis, and the strain which that put on their relationship had started to show by the early 1930s. In May 1933, Tennant, then receiving treatment at a sanatorium in Kent, abruptly broke off the relationship, informing Sassoon via a letter written by his physician that he never wanted to see him again. Sassoon was devastated. When he met his future wife Hester Gatty a few months later, he was still reeling from his break-up with Tennant. Sensing a sympathetic nature, Sassoon confided in Hester about their relationship and, at her suggestion, wrote Tennant a letter to put the past to rest. Whilst he and Tennant would exchange letters, telephone calls and infrequent visits in the years to come, they never resumed their previous relationship. Marriage and later life In September 1931, Sassoon rented Fitz House, Teffont Magna, Wiltshire, and began to live there. In December 1933, he married Hester Gatty (daughter