John Meade Falkner published his first novel, The Lost Stradivarius, in 1896. Set in the aristocratic milieu similar to the one Falkner grew up in, the story at first closely mirrors his own—that of a young man studying at Oxford—before taking a turn for the uncanny. From there it delves progressively deeper into old blasphemy and new madness.
The Lost Stradivarius proved to be the debut of a solid figure in the turn-of-the-century British literary milieu, influencing figures like M. R. James and Dorothy L. Sayers.
