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Grant Allen\u00a0(1848\u00a0\u2013 1899), is not well remembered today, but he was a prolific Canadian science and science fiction writer, novelist, naturalist, and a strong supporter of evolution theory and feminist ideals. Educated in France and England, he started as a teacher, but soon moved to writing on scientific subjects. However, he gained his greatest success from his fiction writing, publishing over 30 novels in 15 years. H.G. Wells is usually given the nod as the father of science fiction, but Allen was also pioneer in this genre as well, particularly on the subject of time travel. Allen also dabbled in mystery novels, boldly featuring female detectives. In 1893, Allen was approached by the publisher Raphael Tuck & Sons to contribute a novel to their new series entitled “Breezy Library”.\u00a0The series would focus on what the publishers called “shilling soothers”. These were novels expected to be less shocking and more popular with mainstream audiences. It was a prototype for the modern romance novel. Allen contributed the third publication in the series, An Army Doctor’s Romance<\/em>.\u00a0The novel offered\u00a0 a simple love-story in which Muriel Grosvenor finds herself in the position of having agreed to marry two men at once. Both men are in the Army and before the matter can be resolved they are sent off to Africa to combat an uprising of the Matabele in modern day Zimbabwe. During the conflict, Dr. Oliver Cameron saves the life of his rival. His rival falls in love with the nurse caring for him, leaving Muriel and Oliver to find each other. Perhaps the story was not as breezy as the publisher expected, with a light romance amidst the violence of warfare. Here’s a review of the novel from The Speaker\u00a0<\/em>—<\/p>\n An \u201cArmy Doctor\u2019s Romance\u201d\u00a0<\/span>is a comparatively slight specimen of Mr.\u00a0Grant\u00a0<\/span>Allen’s powers as a writer of fiction, but it is not without merits of its own. The plot is distinctly ingenious, and has one refreshing variation from conventional fiction. Besides, Mr.\u00a0Grant Allen,\u00a0<\/span>with his wonderful instinct for actuality, has laid the chief scene of the story in Matabeleland during a war between the whites and the Matabeles. There is a vivid description of an attack upon an English lager, which is probably quite as accurate an account of the recent fighting as anything we are likely to get from the special correspondents. How did Mr.\u00a0Grant Allen\u00a0<\/span>succeed in being so completely up to date, seeing that his story must have been\u00a0printed l<\/span>ong before the recent operations began? \u201c\u00a0An Army Doctor\u2019s Romance\u00a0<\/span>\u201d is beautifully printed and handsomely illustrated, whilst it contains in addition an excellent likeness of the author.<\/em><\/p>\n Not long after this publication,\u00a0Allen wrote the novel for which his<\/span>\u00a0most known,\u00a0The Woman who Did<\/em>\u00a0(1895). It is the story of Herminia Barton, a college girl who falls in love with Alan Merrick, but decides not to marry him because of her stance on female emancipation. Instead of marriage, they cohabit giving birth to a daughter, but soon afterwards Merrick, dies suddenly leaving Barton to carry on as a single mother with no marital inheritance. The novel was considered scandalous and caused a great sensation soon after its publication.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blogs.harvard.edu\/preserving\/files\/2019\/02\/5291990.jpg\")
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