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Pseudoname of Anna Masterton Buchan
Anna was born in Fife, at Inglewood, Smeaton Road, Pathhead, Kirkcaldy,
on 24 March 1877, the elder of two daughters and second of six children
of John Buchan (1847–1911), minister of the Free Church of Scotland, and
his wife, Helen Jane (1857–1937), daughter of John Masterton, farmer, of
Broughton Green, Peeblesshire. Anna's father, the son of a distinguished
Peeblesshire lawyer, served congregations at Broughton, Perth, and
Kirkcaldy, and John Knox Church in the Gorbals district of Glasgow. Her
mother exercised great influence on the Buchan children, one of whom was
the novelist John Buchan (1875–1940). Anna's sister died, aged five, in
1893.
Her first novel Olivia in India was published in 1912 by Hodder &
Stoughton. A contemporary review describes it 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. Most portray small town
or village life in southern Scotland, reflecting her own life.
Unforgettable, Unforgotten (1945) is a memoir of her brother John and of
the Buchan family, while Farewell to Priorsford is her autobiography,
published posthumously in 1950.
Her work is displayed alongside
her brother's at the John Buchan Centre(1) in Broughton.
Note:
1. The John Buchan Centre in Broughton
has closed. The new Centre is located in Peebles. It is not
known if her work is on show.
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