Daisy Ashford

Born in Petersham, Surrey, in 1881, Daisy Ashford began writing stories when she was very young. As a child she wrote The Young Visiters at age nine, preserving its unusual spelling and punctuation in a way that later became part of its appeal.

The manuscript stayed in a drawer for many years before it was published in 1919, when it became a major success. Readers were drawn to its accidental comedy, sharp observations, and the freshness of a child’s view of adult society.

Ashford wrote other pieces as well, but The Young Visiters remained the work most closely linked with her name. She lived until 1972, and her unlikely literary success has kept her place in English literary history.