Carrie's War author Nina Bawden dies aged 87

Nina Bawden, author of the classic children's novel Carrie's War, as well as many other books for young and older readers, has died at the age of 87.

During her career, Bawden wrote more than 40 novels, but will be most fondly remembered for Carrie's War, an account of two children who are evacuated to Wales during World War II, which was based on her own experiences during the conflict.

She was also a respected author of adult books, having been nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 1987 for Circles of Deceit, though the book ultimately missed out when Penelope Lively's Moon Tiger scooped the award.

Bawden was also involved in the Potter's Bar train crash in 2002, in which her second husband Austen Kark, former managing director of the BBC World Service, was killed.

Her writing career gradually wound down after the incident, mainly due to the injuries suffered in the crash, though she published a series of letters to her late husband in the form of the book Dear Austen in 2005.

After her death, Bawden's publisher Lennie Goodings described her as 'a gently fierce, clever, elegant, wickedly funny woman'.

He added: 'She wrote slim books, but they were powerful and extraordinarily acute observations about what makes us human. She was a wonderful storyteller and she was writing to the end.'

Bawden, who died at home surrounded by her family, is survived by her son Robert, daughter Perdita and step-daughters Cathy and Teresa.