Howard Overing Sturgis is best known for two homosexual novels, Tim: A Story of Eton and Belchamber.

The son of wealthy expatriate Americans, Sturgis spent his life in England surrounded by privilege and ease. Affable and witty, and with an independent income, he was a favorite with Henry James, Edith Wharton, and A. C. Benson, and the subject of a memorable sketch by E. M. Forster. Sturgis embodied the notion of the sensitive, effeminate male that inform his writings. He was a popular host known for his biting tongue and gift for mimicry.

Sturgis maintained a lifelong relationship with a much younger man, William Haynes-Smith, familiarly known as "the Babe", to whom his novel Belchamber is dedicated. Apart from a few short stories, Sturgis produced no further writing.