His father helped support the struggling couple through their rough times. Carol Henning was to be the first of three wives Steinbeck had throughout his lifetime, being that this marriage would 12 years later in 1942. In 1932, his novel, "The Pastures of Heaven" became his first published work set in Monterey County. Two years later, in 1934, Steinbeck won the O. Henry Prize for a short story set in Monterey County called, "The Murder". That same year, his mother died in the Salinas home, where Steinbeck had stayed to take care of her. Soon after his mother, and father's death in 1935, Steinbeck wrote to a friend, "The house in Salinas is pretty haunted now. I see things walking at night that it is not good to see." That same year, 1935, he had his first commercial success with "Tortilla Flat". It was an instant hit. .
In 1936, "Of Mice and Men" whick was set around Soledad, was produced as a novel and then as a play. He also wrote a letter and mentioned labor violence in Salinas: "There are riots in Salinas and killings in the streets of that dear little town where I was born." In 1938, "The Grapes of Wrath" inspired nationwide attention on the living conditions and exploitation of farm workers. For Los Gatos, Steinbeck wrote, "The vilification of me out here for the large land owners and bankers is pretty bad. The latest is a rumor started by them that the Okies hated me and have threatened to kill me for lying about them. I"m frightened at the rolling might of this damned thing. It is completely out of hand; I mean, a kind of hysteria about the book is growing, that is not healthy. Despite all the controversy, in 1940, Steinbeck received the Pullitzer prize for the novel, and it was turned into a film that same year. In 1943, one year after his divorce from Carol, he married his second wife, Gwendolyn Conger. Steinbeck had two boys with Gwendolyn, but they divorced only five years later.
