Leonard Merrick: A Forgotten Novelist’s Novelist

This study is the first comprehensive, full-length account of the works of the Anglo-Jewish author Leonard William Merrick formerly Miller, (1864-1939). Drawing on unpublished materials, it covers Merricks twelve novels, his several volumes of short stories, eight plays, and contributions to motion pictures. A former actor, Merrick often wrote about actors; George Orwell regards Merricks fiction about the theater as the best of its time, especially The Passion of Peggy Harper (1911). H. G. Wells applauded Merricks depiction of racism in The Quaint Companions (1903). Anti-Semitism is shown in Violet Moses (1891). Mr. Bazalgettes Agent (1888) is the first novel in English to star a lady detective whose story is told through her diary. Many of Merricks works also focus upon a NewWoman. The pioneering meta-fictional aspects of Merricks works deserve attention.