[5] Their first book, The Luck of Thirteen (1916),[6] documented life in the Serbian mission of the Royal Free Hospital and an audacious escape during the 1915 retreat from Serbia.

The most extraordinary fact in the story of their escape is that of all the thousands of men, women, and children who fled from Serbia before the Austrians, a mere handful took the same route as Gordon's party.Following the Serbia experience, Jan Gordon was active in the design of dazzle camouflage for WWI ships.

[9] After the war, a painting journey to Spain resulted in the 1922 book, Poor Folk in Spain,[10] which was the beginning of a long and popular series of Two Vagabonds travel books.Jan and Cora Gordon were signatories to the 1927 letter protesting the piracy of James Joyce's Ulysses in the USA.

[citation needed]Jan and Cora Gordon had a wide network of artistic acquaintances in Paris between the wars.

One of these, Myron Nutting (a friend of James Joyce), wrote affectionately about the Gordons, whom he last saw later in 1927 as they were planning their USA journey.