Hilda Boden

Hilda Boden is actually a pseudonym for the author's real name Hilda Morris Bodenham. She was born on 17 September 1901 in Staffordshire, the daughter of a master tinsmith. She married Robert Bodenham in 1922 and had three children. She lived in Wales.

Hilda did not start writing until relatively late in life. She said she told stories to her own children while they sat "toasting crumpets by the fire" but it was not until they were grown that she felt she had time to start writing her stories down. She began writing articles about dogs and ponies for Home magazine based on her children's experiences. And in 1947 she wrote her first book, a pony story called Pony Trek.

Like many of Primrose Cumming's and Monica Edward's books, her pony stories are often set against a farming background, with interesting descriptions of old-style farming methods. As well as pony stories Hilda Boden also wrote many other non-pony children's books, most with a countryside or mystery theme. Of all her books her favourite she said was Faraway Farm a non-pony book which was published in 1961. It was also perhaps the most critically acclaimed and widely published of all her books, becoming a Junior Literary Guild selection and being published all over the world. She also wrote a book set in Australia called Boomerang about school life down under after she had visited her son who lived there.

She eventually decided to stop writing children's books before she got too old and "out of touch" with young readers.

Like fellow children's author Judith Berrisford, she was also an expert on gardening and wrote many articles on the subject, as well as writing for BBC Radio and writing poetry. She was undoubtedly a very busy multi-talented lady!