Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett was a renowned Scottish author, born on August 25, 1923, in Dunfermline, Fife. Initially an accomplished portrait painter, she transitioned to writing historical fiction, inspired by her love for the genre and encouraged by her husband. Her debut novel, *The Game of Kings*, published in 1961, marked the beginning of the acclaimed six-volume *Lymond Chronicles*, which follows a Scottish soldier's adventures in Renaissance Europe. Dunnett's literary repertoire also includes the *House of Niccolo* series, which explores international commerce in the fifteenth century, and a series of detective novels featuring a portrait-painting sleuth under her maiden name, Dorothy Halliday. Recognized for her meticulous research and intricate storytelling, she received numerous accolades, including the Order of the British Empire in 1992 and a Scottish Arts Council Award for *Checkmate*. Dunnett played a significant role in the literary community, serving as director of the Edinburgh Book Festival and on the Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland. Her works continue to be celebrated for their vivid imagery and rich historical detail, earning her a dedicated fanbase and scholarly acclaim, solidifying her status as one of the notable writers of historical fiction in the twentieth century. Dorothy Dunnett passed away in 2001 due to pancreatic cancer.
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Dorothy Dunnett
Author
- Born: August 25, 1923
- Birthplace: Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland
- Died: November 9, 2001
- Place of death: Edinburgh, Scotland
Biography
Dorothy Dunnett was born in Dunfermline in Fife, Scotland, on August 25, 1923, the daughter of Alexander and Dorothy Halliday. She attended Gillespie’s High School for Girls; fellow classmate Muriel Spark would later commemorate those days in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. An art student at the Edinburgh College of Art, Dunnett later attended the Glasgow School of Art.
Between 1940 and 1955, Dunnett held the post of Press Officer in the Civil Service. She met her future husband, Alistair MacTavish Dunnett, an editor, author, and businessman, at the Scottish office. After their 1946 marriage, they resided with their two sons in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Dunnett remained following her husband’s death in 1988. Pancreatic cancer would claim her life in 2001.
Before she turned to fiction, Dunnett was a flourishing portrait painter, and many of her works were displayed at the Royal Scottish Academy. An ardent consumer of historical novels, Dunnett penned her first book after exhausting the local Edinburgh supply and at the suggestion of her husband. Her transition from painter to writer was not seamless; several British publishers rejected her first novel as too lengthy before it was optioned by Putnam in America. Published in 1961, The Game of Kings was the first installment in Dunnett’s six-volume Lymond Chronicles (1961-1975), works that followed the adventures of a Scottish soldier of fortune exploring Renaissance Europe. Her cycle of eight works (1986-2000), collectively known as the House of Niccolo series, traced the title character’s exploits in international commerce in the fifteenth century and depicted exotic ports of call. The protagonists in each series are men who must not only forge their futures but also unravel the mysteries of their pasts.
The most commercially successful novel in Dunnett’s series was the 1995 To Lie with Lions, but critics favored her independent novel, King Hereafter, which retells the story of the Scottish King Macbeth. With her husband and David Paterson, she coauthored the nonfiction The Scottish Highlands (1988), a travelogue in words and photographs. Dunnett’s detective novels (1968-1992) featured Johnson Johnson, a portrait-painting sleuth, and appeared in print under her maiden name of Dorothy Halliday.
Dunnett was a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Library of Scotland and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. She served as director of the Edinburgh Book Festival, which she and her husband were instrumental in fostering. In 1976 she received the Scottish Arts Council Award for Checkmate. In honor of her many literary accomplishments, she was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1992.
The loyalty of her fans is legion and inspired a quarterly correspondence publication entitled Kisses and Marzipan, but her work also merited attention by scholars, who regard Dunnett as one of the most accurate writers of historical fiction in the twentieth century. Her well-researched series are noted for their multifaceted depictions of life in ages past. Critics laud her ability to combine historical events and settings with fully realized characters and intriguing, complex plotlines. Certainly, the artistic eye she developed as a portraitist influenced the rich visual imagery evoked in her finely crafted novels.