Basil King

Born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, in 1859, he was educated in Canada and England before becoming an Anglican priest. He later moved to the United States, where he served as an Episcopal clergyman and gradually turned more of his energy toward writing fiction.

His novels, including The Inner Shrine and other bestsellers of the early 1900s, were known for their emotional storytelling and their interest in conscience, faith, and society. Readers of the time responded strongly to the way he blended spiritual concerns with popular, accessible storytelling.

He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1928. Though he is less widely read today, his career offers a vivid glimpse of the kind of thoughtful, dramatic fiction that reached a large international audience in his era.