The author Hester Burton was born on this day (6th December) in 1913. For the most part, Burton wrote historical fiction for children and young adults; | find it fascinating that she had J R R Tolkien and CS Lewis among her tutors at Oxford!

I first discovered her books as a child, when I was also reading Rosemary Sutcliff, Barbara Willard, K. M. Peyton and Geoffrey Trease. If you're a fan of these writers, then it's definitely worth trying Hester Burton too. I think she's brilliant at memorable female characters. I would recommend trying 'The Great Gale,' 'Time of Trial,' 'In Spite of All Terror' or 'The Henchmans at Home' first.

I thought the below quote from 'The Henchmans at Home' (a collection of six stories centered on the same characters) was fitting for a cold December evening:

'Ellen never forgot that moonlight skating.... it was overhead that the true glory stretched, for a thousand stars, paled by the moon, shone down unwinking from the great arch of the night sky. She felt awed; solemn; and then, suddenly so wildly free and happy to be out skating in such a wonderful world that she sped away from the others, wishing to be on her own. She did an outside edge and then cut a figure of eight and then swept backwards in an enchanting moonlight waltz; for, though she was so clumsy in her mother's drawing-room, she was as graceful as a bird on skates.'