AWARD-winning novelist and journalist Allan Massie has died aged 87 after bravely battling cancer.
Massie’s family said he died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon surrounded by his children.
His son Alex posted online that his father had “a good and gentle end to a good and gentle life”, “at peace, in bed, surrounded by all his children”.
Posting on Substack, Alex said: “Father died this afternoon. Outside, my sister’s Dandie Dinmont terrier was barking in the garden as he quietly slipped away.
“He was a good and kind man and there are many younger writers and others for whom he has been a source of encouragement and much else besides.
“He was also – and forgive me for stressing this but it does feel important – a great father.
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“We shall miss him greatly while being consoled that all those words do form and furnish a kind of self-made monument.”
Massie only stepped down as a literary critic for The Scotsman last month due to what he described as “wretched cancer”.
Alex added that their family home was always full of books and newspapers, and that his father worked daily at his typewriter for most of his life.
The iconic author wrote 40 books, including about 20 novels during his stellar career.
Massie’s work included historical books about roman emperors Augustus and Caesar, as well as wartime novels like A Question of Loyalties, The Sins of the Father and Shadows of Empire.
He was born in Singapore in 1938 but was raised in Aberdeenshire.
Massie went on to study at Cambridge‘s Trinity College before settling in the Scottish Borders, where he lived for more than 40 years.
Over the decades he also wrote for The Daily Telegraph, The Sunday Times, The Scottish Daily Mail, The Glasgow Herald, The Spectator and many other publications.
His journalism covered a wide range of subjects, from literature, politics and even rugby.
Upon finally stepping back from his work with The Scotsman last month, Mr Massie said: “I’m not reading much these days.
“My eyesight isn’t what it was, so for the last few months I’ve been spending my days sitting here, thinking, reflecting and remembering.
“If this wretched cancer wasn’t involved, it would all be quite agreeable.”
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