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The 9-Year-Old Who Accidentally Wrote A Book That Became A Best-Seller When She Was An Adult
A woman became a best-selling author for the first time after discovering a manuscript she wrote as a child that she had stuck in a drawer
A majority of writers strive to simply be published, let alone produce something that’s read on a widespread basis. Then, there is the case of Daisy Ashford, who accidentally wrote what turned out to be a best-selling book when she was just nine years old.
Born in 1881, Margaret “Daisy” Ashford (She later adopted her married last name of Devlin) was mostly educated at home with her two sisters in England. A precocious child, she was interested in reading, writing and story-telling early on. In fact, she was only four when she dictated her first story. Transcribed by her father, The Life of Father McSwiney was posthumously published in 1983, more than a decade after her death, and of course done in deference to the success she had eventually gained as a writer as an adult.
Ashford continued to write as a child but by the time she was in her teen years she gradually drifted into other interests and stopped. As a young woman, she moved to London and worked as a secretary. During World War I she also operated a…
