Popular young adult fiction writer Tonke Dragt died on Friday aged 93 at her home in The Hague, her publisher Leopold announced at the weekend.

Her first book, Adventure of the Unidentical Twins, appeared in 1961, shortly to be followed by the prize-winning The Letter for the King in 1962. She went on to write numerous other successful books, including The Secrets of the Wild Wood and The Song of Seven.

The Letter to the King, which was translated into 34 languages, was made into a film in 2008. In March 2020, Netflix turned the book into a series.

Dragt kept writing well into old age. The children’s book Wie achter deze deur verdwaalt (Those who loses his way behind this door), which she wrote with writer/illustrator Rindert Kromhout, appeared in 2021.