Thomas Bertram Costain was a Canadian-American journalist, editor, and novelist who achieved immense popularity as a writer of historical fiction later in life. Born in Brantford, Ontario, in 1885, Costain initially pursued a career in journalism and publishing. He worked as an editor for several Canadian publications before relocating to the United States, where he served as an editor for The Saturday Evening Post and later as a story editor for Doubleday.
Costain did not publish his first novel, For My Great Folly, until 1942, when he was fifty-seven years old. Despite this late start, he quickly became a best-selling author, known for his meticulously researched and highly readable historical epics. Among his most famous works are The Black Rose (1945) and The Silver Chalice (1952), both of which were adapted into major motion pictures. In addition to his fiction, Costain wrote several popular non-fiction history books, including a multi-volume series on the Plantagenet dynasty. He continued writing until his death in New York City in 1965.