On 8 January 1926, Graves, his wife Nancy, the family (four children), a nurse, and Laura Riding left for Egypt, where Graves was employed as Professor of English at Cairo University.
Riding’s official position on this trip was ‘lady-secretary’; in reality she was to become his chief collaborator on many of his literary endeavours.
The Shout, Graves’s first successful story, reveals the dynamics between Richard (Robert), Rachel (Nancy) and Charles (Laura); the beginnings of a real ménage à trois that would not last. Graves quit his Professorship in July 1926.
Robert Graves, The Shout. London: E. Mathews & Marrot, 1929.