C. H. B. Kitchin was born in 1895. He read classics at Oxford and, after serving in France during World War I, was called to the bar in 1924. His early novels, such as Streamers Waving, were witty and brilliant, with a strong element of fantasy; while his later ones, such as The Book of LIfe, were, in the words of Francis King, 'works of settled and deliberate accomplishment, brimful of diverting characters, incidents and ideas'.