Reade, << reed, >> Charles (1814-1884), was an English novelist and playwright. His The Cloister and the Hearth (1861) has been called one of the greatest historical novels in the English language. It is an exciting love story that also provides a good picture of European life in the 1400’s.
Many of Reade’s other novels attack social abuses of his day. He criticized harsh treatment of mentally ill people in Hard Cash (1863) and British trade unions in Put Yourself in His Place (1870). It Is Never Too Late to Mend (1856) exposed terrible prison conditions. Reade also wrote plays. Several of the plays are adaptations of his novels.
Reade kept large files of newspaper clippings, and of his own notes about what he saw. He referred to these when writing.
Reade was born on June 8, 1814, at Ipsden, Oxfordshire. He attended Oxford University and became a lawyer, though he never practiced law. Reade died on April 11, 1884.
