author
Horace W. C. (Horace Wykeham Can) Newte
1870–1949
A prolific Edwardian writer of novels, plays, and journalism, he was known for sharp social observation and a taste for controversy. His fiction often turned to suburban life, class pressures, and the moral tensions of modern England.
1 Audiobook
Sparrows: The Story of an Unprotected Girl
by Horace W. C. (Horace Wykeham Can) Newte
About the author
Born in Melksham, Wiltshire, in 1870, Horace Wykeham Can Newte became an English playwright, novelist, and columnist. He was educated at Christ's Hospital and wrote across several forms, building a career that ranged from drama to journalism to popular fiction.
Newte is especially remembered for novels that drew on the fast-changing world of London's suburbs and for books that tackled social questions head-on. His work could be provocative, and some of his political writing was openly controversial, but that same directness helped give his fiction its energy.
He published widely in the late Victorian and Edwardian years and continued to be read for titles such as Sparrows and The Master Beast. He died in 1949, leaving behind a large and varied body of work.