<div> <div> <p>As the creator of Sherlock Holmes, &amp;#8220;the world&amp;#8217;s most famous man who never was,&amp;#8221; Arthur Conan Doyle remains one of our favorite writers; his work is read with affection&amp;#8212;and sometimes obsession&amp;#8212;the world over. Doctor, writer, spiritualist: his life was no less fascinating than his fiction.<br /> nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Conan Doyle grew up in relative poverty in Edinburgh, with the mental illness of his artistically gifted but alcoholic father casting a shadow over his early life. He struggled both as a young doctor and in his early attempts to sell short stories, having only limited success until Sherlock Holmes became a publishing phenomenon and propelled him to worldwide fame.nbsp;<br /> nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; While he enjoyed the celebrity Holmes brought him, he also felt that the stories damaged his literary reputation. Beyond his writing, Conan Doyle led a full life, participating in the Boer War, falling in love with another woman while his wife was dying of tuberculosis, campaigning against injustice, and converting to Spiritualism, a move that would bewilder his friends and fans.<br /> nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; During his lifetime Conan Doyle wrote more than fifteen hundred letters to members of his family, most notably his mother, revealing his innermost thoughts, fears and hopes; and Russell Miller is the first biographer to have been granted unlimited access to Conan Doyle&amp;#8217;s private correspondence. <i>The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle</i> also makes use of the writer&amp;#8217;s personal papers, unseen for many years, and is the first book to draw fully on the Richard Lancelyn Green archive, the world&amp;#8217;s most comprehensive collection of Conan Doyle material.<br /> nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Told with panache, <i>The Adventures of Arthur Conan Doyle</i> is an unprecedentedly full portrait of an enduringly popular figure.</p> </div> </div>