John Meade Falkner

Born in 1858, J. Meade Falkner was an English novelist, poet, and scholar whose best-known work is Moonfleet, first published in 1898. He is also associated with The Lost Stradivarius and Nebuly Coat, novels remembered for their strong sense of place and their mix of adventure, mystery, and the past pressing in on the present.

Falkner’s life reached well beyond literature. He worked in business and became a senior figure at Armstrong Whitworth, an important British engineering and armaments company, eventually serving as chairman during the First World War. That unusual combination of businessman and imaginative writer helps explain the distinctive feel of his books: they are richly informed, carefully observed, and grounded in real knowledge of history and landscape.

He died in 1932, leaving a small but lasting body of work. Though he wrote relatively few novels, they have continued to attract readers who enjoy atmospheric storytelling, buried secrets, and classic English adventure.