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Thomas B. Costain | |
|---|---|
 Costain in 1954 | |
| Born | (1885-05-08)May 8, 1885 |
| Died | October 8, 1965(1965-10-08) (aged 80) |
| Occupation | Journalist, author |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | Brantford Collegiate Institute |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Notable awards | Doctor of Letters,University of Western Ontario Gold medallion, Canadian Club of New York |
| Spouse | Ida Randolph Spragge |
| Children | Molly Dora |
Thomas Bertram Costain (May 8, 1885 – October 8, 1965) was a Canadian-Americanjournalist who became a best-selling author ofhistorical novels at the age of 57.
Costain was born inBrantford,Ontario to John Herbert Costain and Mary Schultz.[1] He attended high school there at theBrantford Collegiate Institute.[2] Before graduating from high school, he had written four novels, one of which was a 70,000 word romance aboutMaurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange. These early novels were rejected by publishers.[citation needed]
His first writing success came in 1902 when theBrantford Courier accepted a mystery story from him, and he became a reporter there (for five dollars a week). He was an editor at the GuelphDaily Mercury between 1908 and 1910. He married Ida Randolph Spragge (1888–1975) inYork Township, Ontario on January 12, 1910. The couple had two children, Molly (Mrs.Howard Haycraft) and Dora (Mrs. Henry Darlington Steinmetz). in 1910, Costain joined the Maclean Publishing Group where he edited three trade journals. Beginning in 1914, he was a staff writer for and, from 1917, editor of theToronto-basedMaclean's magazine. His success there brought him to the attention ofThe Saturday Evening Post inNew York City where he was fiction editor for fourteen years.[3]
In 1920, he became a naturalized U.S. citizen. He also worked forDoubleday Books as an editor 1939-1946. He was the head of20th Century Fox's bureau of literary development (story department) from 1934 to 1942.[4]
In 1940, he wrote four short novels but was "enough of an editor not to send them out". He next planned to write six books in a series he called "The Stepchildren of History". He would write about six interesting but unknown historical figures. For his first, he wrote about the seventeenth-century pirate John Ward akaJack Ward. In 1942, he realized his longtime dream when this first novelFor My Great Folly was published, and it became a bestseller with over 132,000 copies sold.[5] TheNew York Times reviewer stated at the end of the review "there will be no romantic-adventure lover left unsatisfied." In January 1946 he "retired" to spend the rest of his life writing, at a rate of about 3,000 words a day.[citation needed]
Raised as aBaptist, he was reported in the 1953Current Biography to be an attendant of the ProtestantEpiscopal Church. He was described as a handsome, tall, broad-shouldered man with a pink and white complexion, clear blue eyes, and a slight Canadian accent. He was white-haired by the time he began to write novels. He loved animals and could not even kill a bug (but he also lovedbridge, and he did not extend the same policy to his partners). He also loved movies and the theatre (he met his future wife when she was performing Ruth inThe Pirates of Penzance).[6]
Costain's work is a mixture of commercial history (such asThe White and The Gold, a history ofNew France to around 1720) and fiction that relies heavily on historic events (one review stated it was hard to tell where history leaves off andapocrypha begins). His most popular novel wasThe Black Rose (1945), centred in the time and actions ofBayan of the Baarin also known as Bayan of the Hundred Eyes. Costain noted in his foreword that he initially intended the book to be about Bayan andEdward I, but became caught up in the legend ofThomas Becket's parents: an English knight married to an Eastern girl. The book was a selection of theLiterary Guild with a first printing of 650,000 copies and sold over two million copies in its first year. In 1950, it was made intoa successful film starringOrson Welles as Bayan andTyrone Power as Walter.
His research led him to believe thatRichard III was a great monarch tarred by conspiracies, after his death, with the murder of theprinces in the tower. Costain supported his theories with documentation, suggesting that the real murderer wasHenry VII.
Costain died in 1965 at his New York City home of aheart attack at the age of 80. He is buried in the Farringdon Independent Church Cemetery in Brantford.
He received a Doctor of Letters (D. Litt) degree from theUniversity of Western Ontario in May 1952 and he received a gold medallion from the Canadian Club of New York in June 1965. The Thomas B. Costain public elementary school (1953) and the Thomas B. Costain – S.C. Johnson Community Centre (2002) in Brantford are named in his honour.
His daughterMolly Costain Haycraft became a writer of historical novels.
George R. R. Martin has cited Costain's non-fiction books on the Plantagenet dynasty as an influence on his bookFire and Blood, part of Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire" series.[7]
