author
Claude Askew
1865–1917
A prolific British novelist and journalist, he is best remembered for the remarkable writing partnership he formed with his wife, Alice Askew. Together they produced more than ninety novels and also reported from the Balkans during the First World War, a life that ended tragically at sea in 1917.
1 Audiobook
The sporting chance
by Alice Askew, Claude Askew
About the author
Born in Kensington on November 27, 1865, Claude Arthur Cary Askew was educated at Eton and later at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He became known not only as a novelist in his own right, but especially as one half of the husband-and-wife team Alice and Claude Askew.
The Asks were astonishingly productive. Between 1904 and 1918, they wrote more than ninety novels, many aimed at a wide popular readership, along with short fiction, journalism, and at least one nonfiction book. Their work moved across genres, including romance, adventure, and mystery, which helped make their names familiar to early twentieth-century readers.
During the First World War, Claude and Alice traveled in the Balkans as correspondents and supporters of the Serbian cause. In October 1917, while returning from the region, both were killed when the ship they were traveling on was torpedoed in the Mediterranean, bringing a dramatic and adventurous literary career to a sudden end.