The composition of the Sojourner “plagues” Rawlings for nearly a decade, according to Rodger Tarr. Her worry about the “invasion of privacy” trial and her husband’s service in the war complicated progress on the novel. But, Rawlings’s biggest blow occurred in 1947, when her beloved editor Maxwell Perkins suddenly died. His loss was an “unspeakable grief” to Rawlings and severely affected her confidence in her writing. By this time in 1947, Rawlings had bought a farmhouse in Van Hornesville, New York, near the home of her friends, Owen D. and Louise Young. In Van Hornesville and in Florida, she bravely continued to work on The Sojourner, finally publishing the novel in 1953.