Ellen Bosworth (1887-1982)

Psuedonym of Enid Bosworth Nunn who was best known as the actress Enid Lorimer.  Enid was a stage (and later TV) actress and was a contemporary of Edith Evans and Sybil Thorndyke. She was born in London in 1887. She studied drama in England and worked as an actress until leaving England for Australia in the 1920s. Here she began to write, although she did return to acting later, mainly in TV roles.

When in her eighties she wrote a short series of children's books featuring a girl called Shelley, a character who was based on her own grand-daughter. These stories included ponies and were set in Australia.

Enid lived for many years in Australia and was to eventually become an Australian citizen, however she did return to England more than once before her death in Sydney.

Many thanks to Anne Wolstencroft for biographical information. More info about the author can be found on Ms. Wolstencroft's own Enid Lorimer website (see link).

Shelley Peters Series:
Teenage Shelley Peters is good friends with Jim Thorne, the son of a top local farmer and horse breeder. Along with Shelley and Jim's younger sisters and assorted other characters they get into a number of adventures. Not sure how much horse content is in  the first of the series as I have not yet read it.

1) SHELLEY AND THE BUSHFIRE MYSTERY
aka SHELLEY PETERS AND THE BUSHFIRE MYSTERY
(GOLDEN PRESS 1972)
Published with no jacket - pictorial boards only
Reprinted by the same publisher under the longer title in 1981

2) SHELLEY AND THE PONY OF THE YEAR
aka SHELLEY PETERS AND THE PONY OF THE YEAR
(GOLDEN PRESS 1972)
Published with no jacket - pictorial boards only
Reprinted by the same publisher under the longer title in 1981
SUMMARY: When Jim's Austrian cousin Nadia comes to stay, she becomes close friends with Shelley. Nadia is a superb rider and takes at once to the beautiful Welsh pony, Blue Diamond. It looks like Nadia and Diamond will excel at the big upcoming show, along with the Thorne's other horses and stock. But matters are complicated first when Nadia, after being taunted at her new school, begins to lose confidence in herself, and then when a plan for revenge on the Thorne family threatens to put all the stock out of the show. Can Shelley solve both these problems and save the day?
PONYMAD RATING: 3 HORSESHOES

3) SHELLEY AND THE PROBLEM PONY
aka SHELLEY PETERS AND THE PROBLEM PONY
(GOLDEN PRESS 1974)
Published with no jacket - pictorial boards only
Reprinted by the same publisher under the longer title in 1981
SUMMARY:  Jim has bought a lovely pony called Arthur but he hates people, a habit that Shelley is determined to cure him of. There is also the problem of the young tearaway Ray whom Shelley befriends. Is he really responsible for the mysterious thefts which have begin to occur in the neighbourhood. Shelley finds she now has two problems on her hands!

Collectors info:
All three in the series were for some reason republished under a longer title with Shelley's full name in the title rather than just her Christian name as in the first editions. Reasonably rare in the UK, with the easiest one to find here being The Pony of the Year. They are also quite hard to find in the USA. In Australia they are obviously the most common, and as they are usually fairly low cost, it might not be too expensive to buy them from there if you are a British or American collector.