Scott-Moncrieff's first novel
Café Bar was published in 1932. He married his first wife
Ann Shearer in 1936, having met her in London where they both worked as journalists. Under her influence he converted from the
Scottish Episcopal Church to the
Roman Catholic Church. He lived with his first wife in Breakacky near
Kingussie, then
Dalwhinnie, and finally Edinburgh. After her death at the age of 29, he moved to the
Isle of Eigg in 1945 and lived there a hermit-like existence in a simple cottage for about five years. His novel ''Death's Bright Shadow'' (1948) is a fictional account of his grief. He moved back to Edinburgh in 1951 and eventually married Eileen née Ward, only daughter of the American illustrator Keith Ward. Upon his death he was survived by Eileen and seven children from the two marriages. In a facetious reference to
Balmoral Castle, Scott-Moncrieff coined the term "
Balmorality" to criticize both Scotland's cultural accommodation since the
Jacobite risings with both the
House of Hanover and the
British Empire and the superficial idealization of Highland
Scottish culture begun by
Queen Victoria and
Prince Albert. In 1951, he wrote
Living Traditions of Scotland, a booklet published on behalf of the
Council of Industrial Design Scottish Committee to accompany the Living Traditions exhibition of architecture and crafts held in Edinburgh as part of the
Festival of Britain. He died in
Peeblesshire and is buried in
Traquair Churchyard. ==Selected publications==