Author. Born Nina Mary Mabey, she wrote more than 40 books and was best-known for her novel “Carrie’s War” (1973), based on her World War II childhood experiences in England. As a young woman she studied politics, philosophy and economics at Oxford, before publishing her early novels about adult gothics and mysteries in 1950s. By the 1960s, she focused her writing towards children’s stories with titles such as “The Secret Passage” (1963), “On the Run” (1964), “The White Horse Gang” (1966), “A Handful of Thieves” (1967) and “The Grain of Truth” (1969). Some of her other noted works included winner of the Guardian Prize “The Peppermint Pig” (1975), “Solitary Child” (1976), “William Tell” (1981), “Circles of Deceit” (1987) and “Dear Austen” (2005). In 1995, she was made a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) and received the prestigious ST Dupont Golden Pen Award for a lifetime’s contribution to literature in 2004. Her “Carrie’s War” novel, won the Phoenix Award in 1993, was twice a BBC Television production and broadcasted in the United States on the PBS series, “Masterpiece Theater” in 2006. She died at the age 87. (bio by: John “J-Cat” Griffith)