When William Came

by Saki

Overview

When William Came: A Story of London Under the Hohenzollerns is a novel written by the British author Saki and published in November 1913. It is set several years in what was then the future, after a war between Germany and Great Britain in which the former won. The book chronicles life in London under German occupation, and the changes that come with a foreign army's invasion and triumph. Like Robert Erskine Childers's 1903 novel The Riddle of the Sands, it predicts World War I (in which Saki would later be killed) and is an example of invasion literature, a literary genre which flourished at the beginning of the 20th century as tensions between European nations increased.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789355842329
Publisher:	True Sign Publishing House
Publication date:	04/20/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	342 KB

About the Author

Saki (1870-1916) was the pen name of British novelist and short story writer Hector Hugh Munro. Born in British Burma, Munro was the son of Inspector General Charles Augustus Munro of the Indian Imperial Police and his wife Mary Frances Mercer. Following his mother’s death from a tragic accident in 1872, Munro was sent to live in England with his paternal grandmother. In 1893, he returned to Burma to work for the Indian Imperial Police but was forced to resign in just over a year due to serious illness. He moved to London in 1896 to pursue a career as a writer. He found some success as a journalist and soon published The Rise of the Russian Empire (1900), a work of history. Emboldened, he began writing stories and novels, earning praise for Reginald (1904), a short story collection, and When William Came (1913), an invasion novel. Known for his keen wit and satirical outlook on Edwardian life, Munro was considered a master literary craftsman in his time. A gay man, he was forced to conceal his sexual identity in order to avoid criminal prosecution. At 43 years of age, he enlisted in the British cavalry and went to France to fight in the Great War. He was killed by a German sniper at the Battle of the Ancre.