Bertha Runkle

Born in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, Bertha Runkle was an American novelist and playwright. After her father died when she was young, she moved with her mother to New York City, where she grew up in a literary environment that helped shape her writing life.

Her best-known book, The Helmet of Navarre (1901), is a historical novel set in 16th-century France. It became a bestseller and was later adapted for the stage, helping establish her reputation while she was still very young.

Runkle went on to write several more novels and also worked as a playwright. Though she is remembered most for her swashbuckling historical fiction, her career shows a writer with a strong sense of story, atmosphere, and theatrical flair.