Stephen McKenna

Born in Beckenham, England, on 27 February 1888, Stephen McKenna became one of the most commercially successful novelists of his day. He studied at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, and published his first novel, The Reluctant Lover, in 1912.

During the First World War, he served in the War Trade Intelligence Department rather than in active combat. McKenna went on to write dozens of novels, many of them centered on politics, morality, and the habits of English upper-class society. His best-known book, Sonia: Between Two Worlds (1917), was a major success and was later adapted for film.

Over the course of his career he published forty-seven novels as well as nonfiction, building a reputation for clear storytelling and sharp observation of social life. He died on 26 September 1967, leaving behind a large body of fiction that captures the tone and anxieties of Britain in the years around the two world wars.