F. Marion Crawford

Biography

Francis Marion Crawford (1854–1909) was an American novelist who spent most of his life in Italy and was one of the most popular writers of the late nineteenth century. Born in Italy to an American sculptor father, Crawford wrote over forty novels, many set in Italy, and was renowned for his supernatural fiction. His ghost stories and horror tales are among the finest in the English tradition. Crawford was also known for his Italian historical romances and his defense of fiction as entertainment rather than moral instruction. His novel Khaled: A Tale of Arabia (1891) is a romantic fantasy set in the pre-Islamic desert.