Stranger Than Fiction: The Life of Edgar Wallace, the Man Who Created King Kong

By Neil Clark

Edgar Wallace was the author of over 170 books, translated into more than thirty languages, and more films were made from his books than any other twentieth-century writer. In the 1920s, a quarter of all books read in England were written by him.

The illegitimate son of a travelling actress, Edgar Wallace rose from poverty in Victorian England to become the most popular author in the world and a global celebrity of his age. He scooped the signing of the Boer War peace treaty when working as a war correspondent, before achieving success as a film director and playwright.

At the height of his success, he was earning a vast fortune, but the money went out as fast as it came in. Famous for his thrillers, with their fantastic plots, in many ways Wallace did not write his most exciting story: he lived it.

‘It is impossible not to be thrilled by Edgar Wallace,’ according to his own books. Indeed, it is impossible not to be thrilled by his rags-to-riches story, told in lively manner by Neil Clark in this fascinating biography.

• Language: English
• Publisher: The History Press
• Release date: Oct 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9780752498959

Neil Clark

NEIL CLARK is a journalist, broadcaster and award-winning blogger. He has contributed numerous articles to leading newspapers, such as the Guardian, Daily Mail and The Spectator. He is a regular pundit on sport and current affairs on television and radio, and in 1993-94 he was Chair of the Edgar Wallace Society.

Reviews for Stranger Than Fiction

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This read like a series of newspaper articles, sets of facts without too much comment, though there is a fair bit of comment on the treatment of popular literature of the time that sounds just like modern moments I've seen play out, both about popular literature and women's literature. And with Wallace's prodigious output it's impossible that he didn't write some dogs.It's always interesting to hear about how some things stay the same, the treatment of popular literature is one of those thing that never seems to change, though some of the writers seem to be rehabillatied by history. I have always found that some popular fiction sometimes depicts the social history and mores of the time better than many other sources. I am an Edgar Wallace fan, since my teen years and I do still enjoy them.Edgar was an illegimate child, adopted by a couple who left school at 12, went to South Africa just before the Boer War (and somehow managed to avoid being one of the combatants during it) instead being a war correspondent, he became an editor for a newspaper in South Africa and married his first wife there.His life is full of moments of being very financially stupid and generous at the same time, leaving some messes behind him but at the end his family weren't poor after him and his gererousity lives long in many people's memory.It's not a bad read but it left me wanting more.