Ruth M. Arthur

Works published in the United States as of 1973 included Dragon Summer; My Daughter, Nicola; A Candle in Her Room, Requiem for a Princess, Portrait of Margarita, The Whistling Boy, The Saracen Lamp, and The Little Dark Thorn.

Requiem for a Princess was included as a Library of Congress Children's Literature Center Book, in the category of 'Stories for Older Boys and Girls', 1967. It is the story of a young girl named Willow who discovers she is adopted, and how she comes to terms with her situation via dreams involving an earlier inhabitant of her home, named Isabel.

Starting with Dragon Summer in 1962, Arthur switched to writing novels for young adults. These books, which occupied the intersection between fantasy and gothic romance, were her most popular works. They often included wartime historical backdrops, time slips, and haunted objects.

Over the next 15 years, Arthur published six books suitable for preschool children, making them age-appropriate for the six Arthur children during their preschool years. . In 1957, Arthur started to write books for 7-8 year olds, and her intended audience changed when her youngest child outgrew that age group: "I followed my youngest daughter as she grew up. When she grew out of the children's book stage, so did I."

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Miller continued writing sets of related short stories. These stories were for an older audience then the Brownie and Friendly stories. Titles in this Carolina and Roberto series include: Carolina's holiday, and other stories, Carolina's Golden Bird and other stories, Carolina and Roberto, and Carolina and the Sea-horse, and other stories, as well as two others: The Daisy Cow, and other stories of the Channel Islands and A Cottage for Rosemary. She also had a short story called A Crown for Caroline included in a 1964 book titled A Book of Girls Stories printed by Golden Pleasure Books, Ltd. of London.

Pumpkin Pie, first published in 1938 and then again in 1941, is a collection for very young children from their point of view. There are cute little animals and children and miniature challenges and outcomes. The stories also include a gnome named Stumps who does magic, a girl in Belgium with magic clogs that have a mind of their own, and a mermaid. The 1938 printing was by Collins in Glasgow, as part of their Silver Torch Series and the 1941 printing by Collins in London was part of their series called The Little Ones First Library.

Arthur next wrote a three-part series about Brownies. The Crooked Brownie was published in 1936 by Whitcombe & Tombs, an educational publishing house based in New Zealand. With a printing office in London as well, they produced popular educational series including 'Whitcombe's Story Books.' Between 1908 and 1962 they printed 666 titles in that series, the most extensive collection of children's books. The Crooked Brownie in Town and The Crooked Brownie at the Seaside were published in London in 1942 by George G. Harrap and Co. and printed by Jarrold & Sons Ltd of Norwich. Those later Brownie books included characters that were small, cuddly animals, as well as a gnome, a pixie, and an elf.

In 1932, Arthur got engaged to the solicitor Frederick Newey Huggins, son of George and Jane Daisy Huggins of The Rowans, Four Oaks, Birmingham. They married on 2 September 1932.

Arthur's first book Friendly Stories, etc., was published by George G. Harrap and Co. in the year of her marriage, 1932. The stories feature small animals that have lives similar to people, and children (and adults) themselves. One story includes a tree gnome, and frost elves and snow elves; another story is about how Spring lets people know she is coming by putting furry grey coats on one plant – the pussy willow. The interactions between animals and people are understood differently by each group. This set of stories was reprinted in 1935, 1938, 1941, 1942 and 1949.

Once she turned 18, she enrolled in Froebel Training College in Roehampton, London. While studying at Froebel, she had several short stories published. Three years later, in 1926, she graduated as a certified kindergarten teacher. After graduation, she moved back to Glasgow, where she taught kindergarten at Laurel Bank School for three years. In 1930, she moved to Loughton, Essex, England, where she taught at a local secondary school until 1932.

Ruth Mabel Arthur Huggins, sometimes misspelt as Higgins (26 May 1905 – 6 March 1979) was a Scottish teacher and writer whose books were published under her maiden name as Ruth M. Arthur. She mainly wrote for children and young adults in English. Her best-known books were those written for teenage girls, that contained elements of suspense and the supernatural and were anchored in historical settings.

Ruth Mabel Arthur was born to Allan Arthur and Ruth M. Johnston on 26 May 1905 in Lanark, Glasgow, Scotland. She spent her childhood in the countryside outside of Glasgow, she attended St. Columba's School in Kilmacolm, Renfrewshire.