Arthur King grew up in the sixties in a middle-class home in a middle-class neighborhood. He was an only child. His father and mother were both accountants and worked for the Ministry of Finance, which was part of the Ontario Government. As two of only twenty accountants responsible for auditing the financial statements of hospitals, school boards and social programs funded by the government, their jobs required a lot of travel. Almost every week, one or both had to visit an institution or agency somewhere in Ontario and, as Arthur’s mother was fond of saying, “see if anyone is writing fiction.”
Because his parents were away so often, and so often simultaneously, Arthur was also raised by his grandmother. She was the strictest of the three adults in his life and carefully regimented his s
