Dorothy Gladys "Dodie" Smith, born in 1896 in Lancashire, England, was one of the most successful female dramatists of her generation. She wrote "Autumn", " Crocus", " "and "Dear Octopus", " "among other plays. "I Capture the Castle", " "her first novel, was written in the 1940s while she was living in America. An immediate success, it marked her crossover from playwright to novelist, and was produced as a play in 1954. Smith also wrote the novels "The Town in Bloom", " It Ends with Revelations", " A Tale of Two Families", " "and "The Girl in the Candle-Lit Bath", " "but she is best known today as the author of two highly popular stories for young readers: "The Hundred and One Dalmatians "and "The Starlight Barking"." "She died in 1990.