One of six children of the Rev. John Buchan and Helen Masterson, and the sister of the author and first Lord Tweedsmuir, John Buchan, Anna spent much of her youth at home helping her father in his parish work. She was formally educated at Queen's Park Academy and Hutcheson's Girls' Grammar School, and later at Queen Margaret College in Glasgow. Her early experiences in the borders helped her to draw on material for her many novels, the first of which, Olivia in India, appeared in 1913. She adopted the pseudonym of O. Douglas for all her works, the most popular of which were Pink Sugar (1924) and The People Place (1926). She continued to have considerable success during the 1920s and 1930s. Anna died of cancer at her home at Bank House in Peebles. Her works include The Setons (1917), Penny Plain (1920), Ann and Her Mother (1922), The Day of Small Things (1930), Priorsford (1932), Taken By the Hand (1935), People Like Ourselves (1938), The House That Is Our Own (1940) and Unforgettable, Unforgotten (1945). The latter was published under her real name. |
