Pamela Ropner (1931–2013)

Pamela Ropner was raised on her family's large farm at Tain, by the Black Isle between Inverness and Invergordon. She started writing as a child, and was also a talented pianist. She attended the University of Edinburgh and then studied art in London, becoming a good illustrator. Her father, who had served in Abyssinia in World War II, encouraged her to travel in Africa. After her return, she published her first book, an award-winning adventure novel for children, The Golden Impala (1957). That same year, she married Dr. Thomas Stuttaford, a physician and medical writer, later a Member of Parliament, with whom she had three sons. Her second book, The House of the Bittern (1965), which drew on her childhood experiences, became the first children’s novel broadcast by the BBC’s A Book at Bedtime program. She wrote a total of five novels as well as short stories for young people, many of which appeared in anthologies.