Ruth M. Arthur

Ruth Mabel Arthur Huggins, sometimes misspelt as Higgins

Early life Ruth Mabel Arthur was born to Allan Arthur and Ruth M. Johnston on 26 May 1905 in Lanark, Glasgow, Scotland. She spent her childhood in the countryside outside of Glasgow, attending St. Columba's School in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire.

In 1932, Arthur got engaged to the solicitor Frederick Newey Huggins , son of George and Jane Daisy Huggins of The Rowans, Four Oaks, Birmingham. They married on 2 September 1932.

Literary career Early works Arthur's first book Friendly Stories, etc., was published by George G. Harrap and Co. in the year of her marriage, 1932. The stories feature small animals that have lives similar to people, and children (and adults) themselves. One story includes a tree gnome, and frost elves and snow elves; another story is about how Spring lets people know she is coming by putting furry grey coats on one plant – the pussy willow. The interactions between animals and people are understood differently by each group. This set of stories was reprinted in 1935, 1938, 1941, 1942 and 1949.

Over the next 15 years, Arthur published six books suitable for preschool children, making them age-appropriate for the six Arthur children during their preschool years. In 1957, Arthur started to write books for 7-8 year olds, and her intended audience changed when her youngest child outgrew that age group: "I followed my youngest daughter as she grew up. When she grew out of the children's book stage, so did I." Between 1908 and 1962 they printed 666 titles in that series, the most extensive collection of children's books. The Crooked Brownie in Town and The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside were published in London in 1942 by George G. Harrap and Co. and printed by Jarrold & Sons Ltd of Norwich. Those later Brownie books included characters that were small, cuddly animals, as well as a gnome, a pixie, and an elf.

Interim period

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Miller continued writing sets of related short stories. These stories were for an older audience then the Brownie and Friendly stories. Titles in this Carolina and Roberto series include: Carolina's holiday, and other stories, Carolina's Golden Bird and other stories, Carolina and Roberto, and Carolina and the Sea-horse, and other stories, as well as two others: The Daisy Cow, and other stories of the Channel Islands and A Cottage for Rosemary. She also had a short story called A Crown for Caroline included in a 1964 book titled A Book of Girls Stories printed by Golden Pleasure Books, Ltd. of London.

Young adult fiction Starting with Dragon Summer in 1962, Arthur switched to writing novels for young adults. These books, which occupied the intersection between fantasy and gothic romance, were her most popular works. They often included wartime historical backdrops, time slips, and haunted objects. "Well-constructed and readable.. they provide a useful stepping-stone to the adult fiction of Daphne de Maurier, Mary Stewart and other writers of this kind." The Saracen Lamp revolves around an old object, as does A Candle in Her Room and Requiem for a Princess. In An Old Magic, an ancient charm exerts power over one of the characters. Her other books for young adults include The Whistling Boy and My daughter, Nicola.

Style In her most popular books, the ones for young adults, Arthur tended to use the first-person narrative a great deal, relaying events from the viewpoint of the focal character or protagonist as they interact with the world around them. For example, in The Whistling Boy, "he nature and feeling of the characters are explained rather than revealed." A Candle in Her Room has three generations of girls and women in the same family as narrators.

The settings of her books for young adults often have historical backgrounds and are places that Arthur was intimately familiar with. For example, The Saracen Lamp was set in an old house that she was familiar with in the Cotswolds.

Many of her stories for young adults shared similar themes and intertwined history, time, and old objects. "Ruth Arthur makes constant use of old objects. The list of Arthur's books includes The Saracen Lamp, Requiem for a Princess, using an old carving, and A Candle for her Room using an old doll." Arthur spends a lot of time on researching historical subjects, usually spending about a year on the first draft.

Rose Michael notes, "..it was Ruth M Arthur’s tales that affected me the most. Her stories, where a preteen girl trips into another (historic) world where a character is experiencing a similar but more extreme situation, are so convincing that I couldn’t sleep with them in my room."

Awards Requiem for a Princess was included as a Library of Congress Children's Literature Center Book, in the category of 'Stories for Older Boys and Girls', 1967. It is the story of a young girl named Willow who discovers she is adopted, and how she comes to terms with her situation via dreams involving an earlier inhabitant of her home, named Isabel.

Works 1932 – Friendly Stories, etc., illustrated by G. Fyffe Christie 1936 – The Crooked Brownie, illus. R. M. Turvey 1938 – Pumpkin Pie 1938 – Mother Goose Stories, etc., illus. Ruth Newton and Irene Mountfort 1942 – The Crooked Brownie in Town, illus. R. M. Turvey 1942 – The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside, illus. R. M. Turvey 1949 – Cowslip Mollie, illus. Helen Haywood 1957 – Carolina's holiday, and Other Stories, illus. Dodie Masterman 1958 – Carolina's Golden Bird and other stories, illus. Lucien Lowen 1958 – The Daisy Cow, and other stories of the Channel Islands 1960 – A Cottage for Rosemary, illus. M. Whittaker 1961 – Carolina and Roberto, illus. Lucien Lowen 1962 – Dragon Summer, illus. Margery Gill 1964 – Carolina and the Sea-horse, and other stories 1965 – My daughter, Nicola, illus. Fermin Rocker 1966 – A Candle in Her Room, illus. Gill 1967 – Requiem for a Princess, illus. Gill 1968 – Portrait of Margarita, illus. Gill 1969 – The Whistling Boy, illus. Gill 1970 – The Saracen Lamp, illus. Gill 1971 – The Little Dark Thorn, illus. Gill 1973 – The Autumn People, illus. Gill; reissued 1976 as The Autumn Ghosts 1974 – After Candlemas, illus. Gill; reissued 1976 as Candlemas Mystery 1975 – On the Wasteland, illus. Gill 1977 – An Old Magic, illus. Gill 1979 – Miss Ghost

Works published in the United States as of 1973 included Dragon Summer; My Daughter, Nicola; A Candle in Her Room, Requiem for a Princess, Portrait of Margarita, The Whistling Boy, The Saracen Lamp, and The Little Dark Thorn.

Translations Arthur's books have been translated into German, Norwegian, Portuguese, Danish, and Japanese.

Danish 1979 – En fremmed (The Little Dark Thorn)

German 1973 – Wer bist du, Pietro? (Portrait of Margarita) Cover Illustrator Elisabeth Grauel- von Mandelsloh 1974 – Kleiner dunkler Dorn (The Little Dark Thorn)

Norwegian 1968 – Slik var Margarita (Portrait of Margarita) 1969 – Møte med Isabella (Requiem for a Princess)

Portuguese O Retrato de Margarida (Requiem for a Princess)

Japanese 1982 – Purinsesu e no chinkonka (Requiem for a Princess)