D E Stevenson

Dorothy Emily Stevenson was a Scottish author of light romantic novels, many of which were set in the Scottish Borders. She was born in Edinburgh in 1892, the daughter of the civil engineer David Alan Stevenson, the cousin of author Robert Louis Stevenson. Her first poetry collection was published in 1915. A year later she married Captain James Reid Peploe, and had four children. Her first novel, Peter West, was published in 1923, and she wrote over 40 novels in total. Her Mrs. Tim series of novels were based on her own experiences as a wife of an army officer.

Two of her novels were republished in 2008, and in 2011 two previously unpublished manuscripts were discovered by her granddaughter in an attic. She was famous for the links between her novels, as many important characters in one novel would reappear in minor or supporting roles in other books.

She was known as DES to her fans, and the fans themselves are known as DESsies. Stevenson and her husband moved to Moffat during the second world war, where she became an active member of the local community, and was a keen golfer. She died in the town in 1973.