"Tom's Midnight Garden" author dies aged 86

LONDON, Jan 3 (Reuters) British children's author Philippa Pearce, best known for ''Tom's Midnight Garden'', has died aged 86, her publisher said today.

Pearce suffered a stroke and passed away on December 21, according to Puffin, part of the Penguin Group publishers.

She wrote her first book for young people, ''Minnow on the Say'', while convalescing from tuberculosis in the 1950s.

Her second book ''Tom's Midnight Garden'' went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and won the Carnegie Medal for children's books in 1958.

The story of Tom, who discovers a secret garden and hears a grandfather clock striking 13, was also adapted for film, television and the stage.

Other works by Pearce include ''The Battle of Bubble and Squeak'' and ''The Way to Sattin Shore''.

''Philippa Pearce was one of the great writers for children,'' said Francesca Dow, managing director of Puffin Books.

''Her books are outstanding, classics which have delighted and inspired generations of children and for many people 'Tom's Midnight Garden' is their absolutely favourite children's book.'' Pearce was born in eastern England, the youngest of four children of a flour miller, and her childhood memories permeated her works.

''My father had to retire and they sold the Mill House,'' she once said, describing her inspiration for ''Tom's Midnight Garden''.

''Suddenly my childhood was chopped off from me. As they were in the process of selling, I began thinking of writing a story based on the house and the garden and this feeling of things slipping away.'' REUTERS PB HT2058