O. Douglas

Short Biography

ANNA BUCHAN (1877-1948)(aka O. Douglas)Sister of thriller writer John Buchan, Anna Buchan wrote under the name "O. Douglas" and was the author of numerous popular novels about Scottish village life. Like D. E. Stevenson and Elizabeth Cadell, she is sometimes called a "cozy" writer—comforting and light reading for rainy days—though for me such writers can often provide the most interesting details of day-to-day life in their places and times. Her novels include several early works available in free ebooks—Olivia in India (1913), The Setons (1917), and Penny Plain (1920), and several others were reprinted by Greyladies (but are mostly now out-of-print again). Her other novels are Ann and Her Mother (1922), Pink Sugar (1924), The Proper Place (1926), Eliza for Common (1928), The Day of Small Things (1930), Priorsford (1932), Taken by the Hand (1935), Jane's Parlour (1937), People Like Ourselves (1938), and The House that Is Our Own (1940). Buchan published a memoir, Unforgettable, Unforgotten (1945), which includes details about her early family life and her recollections of her bestselling brother. A final collection, Farewell to Priorsford, was published in 1950, collecting a portion of an uncompleted novel called The Wintry Years, several short stories, and a series of biographical sketches by some of those closest to her, including authors Susan Tweedsmuir and Christine Orr.