Author Norman Douglas was born in Austria on December 8, 1868 and was educated in England, Germany, and France. In 1893, he joined the British Foreign Office and worked as a diplomat in Russia and Italy. He left the service in 1896 apparently as the result of an indiscreet love affair. He wrote numerous travel books and his only popular success was the novel South Wind, published in 1917. He died in 1952.