Born on 14th October 1924 in Derby, Dorothy Boux’s early memories are of blue brick Victorian houses, a sweet shop with glass jars and paper cornets of chocolate drops.

During the war years, young men Dorothy knew disappeared one by one, killed in action; even her well-loved brother, a pilot, was killed in an air battle. At seventeen, Dorothy went to work for Rolls Royce, first in the accounts department, then into the more secret design work taking place at Hucknall aerodrome. Here, they developed the first jet engine.

One day Dorothy was asked to visit a contingent of wounded Frenchmen at the local hospital; one of these, Andre Boux, was to become her husband. His war had comprised years of forced labour in Nuremberg, a final escape to join the maquis, and finally at D-day, where he fought beside the American forces for the liberation of France.

When Dorothy was twenty-two, in 1946, she and Andre married and set out for an unknown life in post-war Paris. There were privations shortages, and the trauma of a proud city awakening after years of occupation. After four years, Andre was transferred to Dudley, England by his company, where they purchased their first real home, a rambling Victorian building with a fine view. They had three children together – Carole, Yvette and Gerard. Seven years later they moved to London and pursued the wider interests of art, religion, philosophy and searching questions about life.

In the 1950s, Dorothy and Andre found the School of Economic Science where, through discussion, reflection, and meditation these profound questions are addressed. They were encouraged to develop a distinctive hand until eventually the request came to apply the art to a book about Christmas and a new career began.

Dorothy opened a coffee house, Charltons, and then an antique shop, Ficino Gallery in Harrow, London. She believes that looking back on the tapestry of events, the crucial role of the large family, eight grandchildren, and six great grand children has been of great significance to her, along with “a sense of destiny and of certain inevitable threads, and the powerful conviction of the creative power of the good that exists within us all.”