Catherine Sinclair was a prolific and popular writer during her lifetime. Her early children's book Holiday House: a Series of Tales (1839), which includes the "Nonsensical Story of Giants and Fairies," marked a turning point in the history of children's literature. Those who objected to whimsy and imaginative literature for children had a difficult time finding fault with a story that was highly moral and instructive, and yet allowed children the right to be young and boisterous and make mistakes at the same time.

Catherine Sinclair was born on 17 April 1800 in Edinburgh, Scotland, the fourth daughter of Diana Macdonald Sinclair and Sir John Sinclair, a politician and the president of the Board of Agriculture. At the age of fourteen Catherine became her father's secretary; she held that position until his death in 1835. She never married, but devoted her life to her father, her writing, and acts of charity. Sinclair...