Henrietta Branford was born in India in 1946 but grew up in the New Forest. Her rural childhood inspired all her writing and shone through her ‘Ruby Red’ stories. The first of her three ‘Dimanche Diller’ books won the Smarties Book Prize (6–8 category) and was shortlisted for the Guardian Children’s Fiction Award.
Henrietta lived in Southampton with her partner, the photographer Paul Carter, until her death on 23 April 1999 from breast cancer. They had three children.
