Hector is an 11-year-old boy living near Edinburgh with his great auntie
Robbo who is in her eighties. A woman calling herself his step-mother
arrives from England and Hector and Auntie Robbo realise that they have
to run away. The chase leads all over the north of Scotland, narrowly
escaping police and the authorities, adopting three homeless children on
the way.
Originally refused publication in London because it was deemed critical
of the English, Auntie Robbo was first published in the U.S. in 1940.
After success in print it was taken on by Constable in 1959 and later
was published in India, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Denmark
and Germany.