Reader's Digest Condensed Books, 1988 #1, Volume #175

Dorothy Gilman started writing when she was 9 At 11, she competed against 10 to 16 year olds in a story contest and won first place Dorothy worked as an art teacher and telephone operator before becoming an author She wrote children s stories for than ten years under the name Dorothy Gilman Butters and then began writing adult novels about Mrs Pollifax a retired grandmother who becomes a CIA agent The Mrs Pollifax series made Dorothy famous While her stories nourish people s thirst for adventure and mystery, Dorothy knew about nourishing the body as well She used to live on a farm in Nova Scotia, where she grew medicinal herbs Her knowledge of herbs comes through in many of her stories, including A Nun in the Closet, in which a nun treats a man s wounds with the herbs growing nearby Many of Dorothy s books, including Caravan, feature strong women having adventures around the world Dorothy spent much of her life in Connecticut and Maine She died at age 88 of complications of Alzheimer s disease.Series Mrs Pollifax