Micah Clarke

More about the book

This historical novel, first published in 1889, was Doyle's third book -- his first hardcover one, preceded only by the two paper-wrappered titles A Study in Scarlet and The Mystery of Cloomber. Micah Clarke was quite successful, running through several quick printings, though Doyle had to take it to numerous publishers before Andrew Lang at Longmans finally accepted it. Doyle brought together his knowledge of the seventeenth century and supplemented it with months of research on detail. Then, at intervals of tramping medical rounds or studying optics at the Portsmouth Eye Hospital, he wrote the book in three months.