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Photograph by Alison Dunnett ©
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Born Dorothy Halliday, on the 25th August 1923 in Dunfermline in
Fife, she was educated at Gillespie's High School for Girls, in
Edinburgh, and her time there overlapped with Muriel Spark, who
later wrote The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie about the same
school.
Her early career from 1940-55, was with the Civil Service as a
Press Officer. While at the Scottish Office she met Alastair Dunnett,
and they were married in 1946. Alastair later became editor of The
Scotsman, a position he filled for 16 years, before moving to
the oil industry as Chairman of Thomson North Sea Oil. During 1995
he received a knighthood for services to journalism and Scottish
life. To universal regret, Alastair died after a short illness at
the age of 89 in September '98.
From 1950, Dorothy pursued a parallel career as a professional
portrait painter. She exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy on
many occasions and had portraits commissioned by a number of prominent
public figures in Scotland. Her writing career started in the late
'50s, when she complained to Alastair that she had run out of reading
material and he suggested she write something herself. Setting to
with the erudition and depth of research that was to become her
trademark she spent the next 18 months researching in ever more
detail before presenting a large pile of manuscript to Alastair
with a request to read it. That he did in two nights, and immediately
recognised it as a milestone in historical fiction. However five
British publishers rejected it and it seems that its length was
at least one factor in that. It was then that he contacted a friend
in America, Lois Cole who had discovered Margaret Mitchell and Gone
with the Wind. In a letter he asked "How would you like to
see an astounding manuscript of a story by the wittiest woman in
Scotland?" A contract swiftly followed and Game of
Kings was published by Putman in the USA in 1961, with Cole
doing the editing and also selling the UK rights to Cassell who
published it the following year. That was how Francis Crawford was
introduced to a discerning and increasingly enthusiastic readership.
The scene was now set and five more volumes of the Lymond Chronicles
were written over the next fifteen years, interspersed with the
lighter detective novels of Johnson Johnson, the bifocal wearing
secret agent, which were originally published under Dorothy's maiden
name.
By now an acclaimed writer with a mature and confident style, she
was asked to produce a single volume work on a figure from Scottish
history. Dismissing the publisher's suggestions of Charles Edward
Stuart or Mary Queen of Scots, she proposed the Shakespeare-maligned
figure of Macbeth and signed a contract to produce it in a year
or two at the most. Once into the research she found herself increasingly
coming across the figure of Earl Thorfinn the Mighty of Orkney and
after many months of studying every related book available (around
700) and as much original material as she could find from all over
Europe, she came to the conclusion that Macbeth and Thorfinn were
actually the same man. Faced with the dilemma of whether to continue
the research and prove her theory or to write the book she had contracted
which was already years overdue she chose the latter. King Hereafter
was eventually published six years late but is regarded by many
as her finest work.
Following King Herafter she returned to the Renaissance
period for her second series of historical fiction - the 8 volume
House of Niccolo. This time, rather than a Scottish nobleman,
her main protagonist was a dyeyard apprentice from Bruges, and the
initial story followed his rise through his skills of accounting
and code-writing. The difference from the life of Francis Crawford
could hardly have been more marked, but gradually through the series
there appeared subtle connections with the earlier, though chronologically
later, story. It eventually became clear that she had produced what
was in effect an entire prequel series.
In addition to her heavy writing schedule Dorothy also led a busy
life in public service. Her positions included: membership of the
Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland, Trustee of
the Scottish National War Memorial, and a Director of the Edinburgh
Book Festival, not to mention work on various committees to do with
books, films, and cultural subjects. She was also a non-Executive
Director of Scottish Television, and a Fellow of the Royal Society
of Arts. In 1992 she was awarded the O.B.E. for services to literature.
Throughout their married life she and Alastair formed a vibrant
partnership for the promotion of Scotland and the development of
Scottish cultural life. They were instrumental in the development
of the Edinburgh Festival and involved behind the scenes in many
other important areas such as Scottish Opera.
Having completed the House of Niccolo series and attended
both the Edinburgh and Philadelphia Gatherings in 2000, she spent
many months working with Elspeth Morrison completing the 2nd volume
of the Dunnett Companion. Shortly after its completion she became
unwell and was later diagnosed with cancer of the liver and pancreas.
She died peacefully a few weeks later on 9th Nov 2001 in an Edinburgh
hospice.
Dorothy is survived by her two sons - Ninian and Mungo, one grandson
- Halliday, and one granddaughter - Annabella Charlotte.
Portraits of Dorothy
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