James Allen was born in Leicester, England, in 1864. At age fifteen the tragic murder of his father left him as the family’s sole breadwinner. Allen became a private secretary and continued until 1902 when, at the age of thirty-eight, he devoted his life to writing. After publishing his first book he retired to Ilfracombe, a coastal town in Devonshire, to write and live in simplicity. Allen died in 1912.
