Kathleen Fidler (Kathleen Annie Fidler Goldie) (10 August 1899 - 7 August 1980) was a prolific author of over 80 children's books. Kathleen Annie Fidler was born on 10 August 1899 in

Coalville Coalville is an industrial town in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Tr ...

, Leicestershire. She was raised in

Wigan Wigan ( ) is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, on the River Douglas. The town is midway between the two cities of Manchester, to the south-east, and Liverpool, to the south-west. Bolton lies to the north-east and Warrington t ...

and educated in Wigan Girls' High School and at St. Mary's College in Bangor North Wales. She became a teacher and taught at St. Paul's Girls' School, Wigan, and was the headmistress of the Scot Lane Evening Institure between 1924 and 1930. She married James H. Goldie in 1930 and moved to Edinburgh shortly afterwards, where she began writing stories for her children. She finally settled in Wester Riggs, a large house in Broomieknowe, a secluded road in

Lasswade Lasswade is a village and civil parish in Midlothian, Scotland, on the River North Esk, nine miles (14.5 kilometres) south of Edinburgh city centre, contiguous with Bonnyrigg and between Dalkeith to the east and Loanhead to the west. Melvil ...

, Midlothian. There her husband became the manager of a local branch of the Bank of Scotland. They had a daughter, Nancy, and a son, Hamish. During the course of her career, she wrote over 80 novels and non-fiction books for children, many of her novels following the adventures of two families, The Brydons and The Deans. Her work has been praised for the depth and detail of research into the background of her stories. She also wrote scripts for the BBC. After Kathleen Fidler died in August 7, 1980, her publishers and members of the Edinburgh Children's Book Group established the Kathleen Fidler Award in memory of her work and support for children's literature. The award, which closed in 2002, was awarded to previously unpublished authors for novels for children aged 8 to 12. To this day children read her books, which continue to be published and made available and are widely taught in Scottish schools. Her papers are held at the National Library of Scotland.

Book list

All dates in the list below refer to the first date of publication. All books were originally published by

The Lutterworth Press The Lutterworth Press, one of the oldest independent British publishing houses, has traded since the late eighteenth century - initially as the Religious Tract Society (RTS). The Lutterworth imprint, named after the small English town of Lutte ...

The Brydons series

* ''The Borrowed Garden'' (1944) * ''St. Jonathan’s In The Country'' (1945) * ''The Brydons At Smugglers Creek'' (1945) * ''More Adventures Of The Brydons'' (1947) * ''The Brydons Go Camping'' (1948) * ''The Brydons Do Battle'' (1949) * ''The Brydons In Summer'' (1949) * ''The Brydons Look For Trouble'' (1950) * ''The Brydons In A Pickle'' (1950) * ''Surprises For The Brydons'' (1950) * ''The Brydons Get Things Going'' (1951) * ''The Brydons Hunt For Treasure'' (1951) * ''The Brydons Catch Queer Fish'' (1952) * ''The Brydons Stick At Nothing'' (1952) * ''The Brydons Abroad'' (1953) * ''The Brydons On The Broads'' (1955) * ''Challenge To The Brydons'' (1956) * ''The Brydons At Blackpool'' (1960) * ''The Brydons Go Canoeing'' (1963)

The Deans series

* ''The Deans Move In'' (1953) * ''The Deans Follow A Clue'' (1954) * ''The Deans Solve A Mystery'' (1954) * ''The Deans Defy Danger'' (1955) * ''The Deans Dive For Treasure'' (1956) * ''The Deans To The Rescue'' (1957) * ''The Deans Lighthouse Adventure'' (1959) * ''The Deans And Mr. Popple'' (1960) * ''The Deans Dutch Adventure'' (1962)

The Mr. Simister series

* ''The Mysterious Mr. Simister'' (1947) * ''Mr. Simister Appears Again'' (1948) * ''Mr. Simister Is Unlucky'' (1949)

Others

* ''The White Cockade Passes'' (1947) * ''True Tales of Treasure'' (1962) * ''The Desperate Journey'' (1964) * ''The Boy With the Bronze Axe'' (1968) (set in

Skara Brae Skara Brae is a stone-built Neolithic settlement, located on the Bay of Skaill on the west coast of Mainland, the largest island in the Orkney archipelago of Scotland. Consisting of ten clustered houses, made of flagstones, in earthen dams ...

) * ''The Railway Runaways'' (1977) * ''The Lost Cave'' (1978) * ''Pablos and the Bull'' (1979) * ''Seal Story'' (1979)

References