Robert Keable(1887-1927)

British novelist Robert Keable was born in 1887 in Bedfordshire, the son of an evangelical minister. He attended Magdalene College at Oxford, from which he graduated with First Class Honors. In 1911 he became an ordained Anglican minister, and the next year he went to Africa on missionary work. In 1914 he became the rector at Leribe in Basutoland (the present-day country of Lesotho), and three years later served as chaplain with South African forces fighting in France during World War I. His wartime experiences led to his disillusionment with religion in general and his church in particular, and after several serious conflicts with the church hierarchy, he resigned his ordination and became a fierce critic of the religious establishment. He wrote a novel which encapsulated his disappointment, bitterness and anger towards the church, "Simon Called Peter", in 1921 and it became a sensation (he had, while a minister, written several poems, essays and religious studies, but none had attracted any attention). The novel was a best-seller both in Britain and in the US.

He wrote several works after that, but none had the impact of "Simon Called Peter", and sold poorly. He was eventually forced to take a teaching job--a profession he detested--in order to support himself. His health began to fail, and his doctors told him to leave the cold of England for warmer climes. He eventually moved to Tahiti, but it was too late--he died there of Bright's Disease in 1927, only 40 years old.