author
Cyril Burleigh
Known for brisk, old-fashioned adventure stories, this early 20th-century writer is best remembered for the Hilltop Boys books, where school friendships quickly turn into daring escapades. The stories have an easy, energetic style that fits listeners who enjoy classic juvenile fiction.
3 Audiobooks
The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island
by Cyril Burleigh
The Hilltop Boys on the River
by Cyril Burleigh
The Hilltop Boys: A Story of School Life
by Cyril Burleigh
About the author
Cyril Burleigh was a pen name used by Cecil Burleigh (1850–1921), an American writer associated with popular boys' fiction. Sources consistently connect him with adventure, school, railroad, sea, comic, and historical stories, and with publishing for Frank Tousey periodicals and story papers.
Under the name Cyril Burleigh, he is best known for the Hilltop Boys books, including The Hilltop Boys: A Story of School Life, The Hilltop Boys in Camp, The Hilltop Boys on Lost Island, and The Hilltop Boys on the River, all tied to the 1917 series. These novels mix school life, friendship, rivalry, and outdoor adventure in a fast-moving style that was popular with young readers of the time.
Available sources also say he wrote under multiple pseudonyms, including Capt. Will Dayton, and that some of his work appeared in magazines such as Boys of New York, Golden Weekly, Happy Days, and Liberty Boys of '76. Reliable biographical detail beyond his publishing career is limited in the sources I could confirm, so the clearest picture is of a prolific pulp-era storyteller whose books still circulate today through public-domain editions and reprints.