First published 1999
Arthur Conan Doyle transforms from a struggling provincial doctor into the world's most beloved storyteller. Stashower traces Doyle's remarkable journey from his adventurous youth aboard whaling vessels through his creation of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. The biography reveals a man of striking contradictions who sailed dangerous waters, built friendships with Harry Houdini and George Bernard Shaw, and lived adventures that rivaled his fiction. Doyle's later years become consumed by what he called his Psychic Crusade, spiritual investigations he believed surpassed all his literary achievements. Stashower dismantles popular myths about the Baker Street creator while revealing the complex personality behind the detective stories. This Edgar Award winner presents meticulous research in accessible prose, showing how Doyle's own life contained as much drama and mystery as any Holmes case.
Genres: biography, fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, adventure, 19th-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: literary-figures, real-people-fiction
Period: 19th-Century, 20th-Century
496 pages · Hardcover · Henry Holt and Co.