Anna Masterton Buchan (24 March 1877 – 24 November 1948) was a
Scottish novelist who wrote under the pen name O. Douglas. Most of her novels were written and set between the wars and portrayed small town or village life in southern Scotland, reflecting her own life.
Anna Buchan was born in
Pathhead
Pathhead () is an area of Kirkcaldy, in Fife, Scotland. Pathhead was an independent village before it was incorporated into the Royal burgh of Kirkcaldy.
In Jan Blaeu's map of Scotland from the 17th century reference is made to the village of P ...
, Scotland, to the Reverend John Buchan and Helen Masterton. She was the younger sister of
John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, British Army officer, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
As a ...
, the statesman and author. She attended
Hutchesons' Grammar School
Hutchesons' Grammar School is a private, co-educational day school for pupils aged 3–18 in Glasgow, Scotland. It was founded as Hutchesons' Boys' Grammar School by George Hutcheson and Thomas Hutcheson in 1641, making it the 19th oldest scho ...
in
Glasgow
Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...
, but lived most of her later life in
Peebles
Peebles () is a town in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was historically a royal burgh and the county town of Peeblesshire. According to the United Kingdom census, 2011, 2011 census, the population was 8,376 and the estimated population in ...
in the Scottish border country, not far from the village of
Broughton where her parents first met.
Her
first novel
A debut novel is the first novel a novelist publishes. Debut novels are often the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to p ...
''Olivia in India'' was published in 1912 by
. ''Unforgettable, Unforgotten'' (1945) is a memoir of her brother John, Lord Tweedsmuir, and the Buchan family. In it, she recounts her experience visiting her brother in Canada, where he was Governor-General from 1935-1940. Her autobiography, ''Farewell to Priorsford'', was published posthumously in 1950.
Her work is displayed alongside her brother's at the John Buchan Museum in Peebles.
Literary style and reception
A contemporary review describes ''Olivia in India'' as a "happy book" and another commented, "To have read this book is to have met an extremely likeable personality in the author". This was to be the hallmark of all her fiction, gently humorous domestic dramas with little if any reference to political events or social change. Merren Strang, a character in ''Pink Sugar'' who writes novels similar to those of O. Douglas, describes her impulse to write "something very simple that would make pleasant reading — you see, there's nothing of Art for Art's sake about me". Merren later quotes one of her reviews: "'This is a book about good, gentle, scrupulous people who live on the bright side of life'", banteringly describing herself as circumscribed as a novelist by only having met decent people, and thus being unable to create convincing "ape and tiger sort of people" like the "strong novelists" of the day.
In her obituary, ''
The Scotsman
''The Scotsman'' is a Scottish compact (newspaper), compact newspaper and daily news website headquartered in Edinburgh. First established as a radical political paper in 1817, it began daily publication in 1855 and remained a broadsheet until ...
'' noted: "It has been objected that the people of her books are too "pleasant," but, at a time when fiction was passing through an ultra-realistic phase, this pleasantness was a relief to many readers."
Biography of Helen Masterton (Anna's mother)
/ref>
Bibliography
*''Olivia in India'' (1912)
*''The Setons'' (1917)
*''Penny Plain'' (1920)
*''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) mnibus of ''Penny Plain'', ''Pink Sugar'' and ''Priorsford''*''The House That Is Our Own'' (1940)
*''Unforgettable, Unforgotten'' (1945) nder the name Anna Buchan*''Farewell to Priorsford'' (1950)
References
Further reading
* Wendy Forrester, ''Anna Buchan and O. Douglas'' (London: The Maitland Press, 1995).
* Debbie Sly, "Pink Sugary Pleasures: Reading the Novels of O. Douglas", ''The Journal of Popular Culture
''The Journal of Popular Culture'' (''JPC'') is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes academic essays on all aspects of popular or mass culture. It is published six times a year, printed by Wiley-Blackwell. As of Summer 2022, the edito ...
'' 2001 35:1 5
External links
*
*
*
*
Works by O. Douglas
a
Veranda Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Douglas, O.
1877 births
1948 deaths
Scottish women novelists
20th-century Scottish women writers
Pseudonymous women writers
20th-century pseudonymous writers