Frederic (1856-98) was an American journalist and novelist. In 1884 he moved to England to become the London correspondent of the New York Times and whilst he later brought his wife and five children over he went on to establish a second household with his mistress with whom he had three illegitimate children. His 1896 novel The Damnation of Theron Ware (known as Illumination in the UK) brought him recognition as a novelist and was described by one critic as 'a minor classic of realism'. This collection of stories set in the North at the time of the Civil War was first published in 1897.