Coulson Kernahan

James had intended for young Coulson to enter the church, but his son's "intentions were towards literature," which he followed by publishing pieces in American and British periodicals before beginning to write novels.

[5] At their home on Frognall Martmeau Lane in Sussex, England, the Kernahans employed two female servants named Mary and Sarah Pallant as cook and housemaid.

[7] As quoted in The Bookman, a New York literary periodical, Kernahan said regarding this novel, "I have tried to portray truthfully the mighty underground movements which exist in our great cities.

The story is not merely an effort at exciting fiction; it is based on my personal investigation of socialistic life in centers like Paris, Geneva, Brussels, and the East End of London.

"[6] Additionally, Kernahan contributed pieces to many periodicals such as the Nineteenth Century and the Fortnightly Review, wrote humorous verse, and gained wide popularity for his fiction, much of it containing Christian themes.

[6] According to Nash's Pall Mall Magazine, reviewing the highly successful God and the Ant (1895), "Mr. Kernahan is at his best in such imaginative exposition of his thoughts on the deep things of life and death...It is a rather bold allegory of the mystery of evil, with God – not his creatures – arraigned at the Judgement Day, and an attempted solution in the touching conception of a suffering Christ, whose agony did not cease with the Crucifixion, but was repeated in every human sorrow.