After some attempts at writing plays, at the age of 29, Fane published his first novel,
Morning (1956), a description of a small boy’s childhood prior to being sent to boarding school. It was a literary success.
John Betjeman wrote in
The Daily Telegraph that
Morning "seems to me to deserve to last for generations" and he chose it as one of his Books of the Year. In
The Observer Harold Nicolson also described it as "the work of a literary artist, beautifully written". This reception encouraged Fane to devote his life to writing, a career that he took seriously, generally writing for five hours a day, every day, and avoiding social engagements he felt would distract from his work. In his long career he produced some forty works, though popular success eluded him. They were mostly novels, though his non-fiction books include
Best Friends — an entertaining account of his friendships with Rachel and
Lord David Cecil, Lady
Cynthia Asquith,
L. P. Hartley and others, and
Memories of My Mother, an evocation of the life of Diana, Countess of Westmorland. He reviewed for
The Times Literary Supplement and in 1969 set up St George's Press with two partners, publishing 45 titles before it was wound up in 1991. In 1974 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. In 1999, he declared that his latest novel, called
Evening to balance
Morning, would be his last. For the next two years he kept a journal, eventually published as
The Time Diaries, but missing writing stories he gave up retirement and embarked on a new burst of creativity, publishing a novel every six months. ==Personal life==