Maureen Mollie Hunter Mcllwraith was born on June 30, 1922, in Longniddry, East Lothian, Scotland.

Her father, William George McVeigh, a mechanic, was Irish and her mother, Helen Eliza Smeaton Waitt, Scottish.

As a child, Hunter heard many of the stories of Scottish history and folklore which she later used in her writing.

When Hunter was nine years old, her father died, an event which formed the basis for her autobiographical, A Sound of Chariots. Both her father and mother had encouraged her to read and, when she was forced to leave school and go to work while still a teenager, she continued to educate herself.

In 1940, Hunter married Thomas Mcllwraith and, after World War II, they settled down in the Scottish Highlands where their sons, Quentin and Brian, were born. At that point, Hunter began to actively pursue her lifelong interest in writing, creating her...