The Mistress of the Bonaventure

Among the anomalies produced during the Edwardian period, few are more remarkable than Harold Bindloss. Little is known concerning his personal life and character. Who was he? After traveling about Africa and other British colonies, Bindloss located to western Canada, where he absorbed the local coloring which later entered into many of his best novels. In 1896, he settled into a journalistic career, and, after a breakdown in health, began writing fiction. His stories chiefly concern frontier life around the turn of the century. After his almost immediate success, he moved to Cumberland, in the north of England, and dedicated the remainder of his life to writing. His principal novels produced during the Edwardian period are The Concession Hunters (1902), Alton of Somasko (1905), and The Gold Trail (1910). His prose is natural and flowing, if overly formal at times, and his novels generally full of action and high dramatic touches. He wrote steadily until the time of his death, producing over 100 novels-- sometimes as many as two or three per year.