author
W. Bourne Cooke
1869–1935
Best known for lively historical adventures, this English journalist-novelist turned episodes from Britain’s past into fast-moving fiction. His books often blend local color, romance, and danger, with Nottingham and other English settings close at hand.
1 Audiobook
The Black Box: A Tale of Monmouth's Rebellion
by W. Bourne Cooke
About the author
A journalist who lived in Edwalton near Nottingham, W. Bourne Cooke published fiction from the early 1900s into the 1930s. Reference sources describe him as a specialist in historical romance, a label that fits the adventurous tone and period settings of his best-known work.
His novels include Her Faithful Knight (1908), set in Nottingham, as well as The Black Box: A Tale of Monmouth's Rebellion, which was later made available through Project Gutenberg. Other titles linked to his name include Madam Domino, The Cragsmen, and Smugglers All!, showing a steady interest in dramatic stories shaped by English history and legend.
Cooke seems to have written for readers who enjoyed action, atmosphere, and a strong sense of place. Even now, his fiction offers a window into an older style of popular storytelling, where historical events become the backdrop for mystery, loyalty, and adventure.