Harold Sinclair (novelist) dating history

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Harold Sinclair (1907–1966) was an Illinois writer who produced several historical novels, including some about settler life in the Midwest. He was also a musician, and wrote about jazz and New Orleans. He was born on May 8, 1907, in Chicago. At the age of eight he moved to Bloomington, Illinois. He dropped out of high school and traveled around the country, but eventually returned to live in Bloomington. While working in a hardware store in Chicago, he wrote his first book (Journey Home, 1936). The New York Times and Newsweek both published positive reviews of his second novel, American Years, in 1938. It was the first of a trilogy about the town of Everton, Illinois, a fictional name for Bloomington. Roy W. Meyer said, "[Although n]ot properly a farm novel at all ... [t]here is a sense of authenticity in the account of the daily lives and concerns of these small town Illinois people". In 1939 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing.