Robert Chambers was an American artist and writer. He studied at the Art Student's League along with Charles Dana Gibson, and sold illustrations to Life, Truth, and Vogue magazines. He then turned to writing, producing his first novel, In the Quarter, while living in Munich. His best known work is The King in Yellow, which influenced several other writers. He also wrote romantic fiction, and toward the end of his career concentrated on historical fiction.

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The heroine is afflicted by a hereditary drinking problem, as well as a temper that leads her to strike people who upset her. The hero is a painter of skill, with money and social standing, despite a somewhat questionable past in Paris and other European centers. He loses most of his money in the Crash of 1907, and struggles to achieve success and recognition as a painter, inspired by his beloved's struggle against her own affliction.