Allen, Hervey (1889-1949), was an American author best known for his historical romance Anthony Adverse (1933). The story takes place during the era of the French ruler Napoleon I in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. It follows the adventures of a young man as he travels through Italy and Africa and finally to New Orleans. Allen’s style is rich in historical detail based on his thorough research of the Napoleonic period.
Allen planned a series of novels about colonial America called The Disinherited. He completed three works in the series: The Forest and the Fort (1943), Bedford Village (1944), and Toward the Morning (1948). The novels tell the story of Salathiel Albine, a white frontiersman kidnapped as a boy by Shawnee Indians in the 1750’s. All three works were collected and published as The City in the Dawn. Allen also wrote Israfel (1926), a biography of American writer Edgar Allan Poe. William Hervey Allen was born on Dec. 8, 1889, in Pittsburgh. He died on Dec. 28, 1949.
