George Robert Sims was a popular, prolific writer for more than half a century. He had successes in many genres, including novels, short stories, drama, poetry, and journalism. Although his detective fiction has received some attention, he wrote many stories in the vein of social and domestic realism. His autobiography, My Life: Sixty Years' Recollections of Bohemian London (1917), offers reminiscences of his work for newspapers and the theater; however, he has little to say about his efforts in fiction.

Sims was born in London on 2 September 1847. His mother came from Worcestershire; she was eighteen at the time of his birth. His father was from London; he was nineteen when G. R. was born. Sims, who spent a lifetime recording "the human panorama of the pavement," was proud to boast that "I have from my birth been a Londoner." Reportedly, the first words that he uttered as a child...