Frank Yerby is the author of thirty-three novels that have sold over fifty-five million copies in the last forty years. Yerby's first novel, The Foxes of Harrow (1946), was filmed by 20th Century-Fox in 1951; The Golden Hawk (1948) was filmed by Columbia in 1952; and The Saracen Blade (1952) was filmed by Columbia in 1954. Pride's Castle (1949) was filmed for television. Although Yerby is an extremely prolific writer, his literary reputation seems to exist only in terms of his popularity. His only work of fiction to achieve serious critical acclaim is the short story "Health Card," for which he received the O. Henry Memorial Award for the best first story in 1944. Since then, Yerby has produced what many critics consider to be only novels of entertainment.

Frank Garvin Yerby was born 5 September 1916 in Augusta, Georgia. His father, Rufus Garvin Yerby, worked as a hotel doorman in Miami and Detroit; because he traveled frequently...