Pixie’s family was among the 1820 settlers in South Africa and moved to Rhodesia in 1922 where Ruth's grandfather, Alfred Ernest Hartley bought a farm.
Ruth has four children, Rachma, a Church of England vicar, Tanvir, a novelist, researcher and disabilities activist and author of 'Witchgirl' and 'Cull', Zoe, and Ben, the founder of the Ulemu MMA Academy in Lusaka.
After contravening apartheid laws and risking a 7-year prison sentence she had to leave South Africa and sought sanctuary in London.
[3] Ruth moved to South-West France in 2008 where she lives in a rural village and since 2017 has been married to Dr. John Corley.
Her work includes novels, short stories, poetry and memoir, all with an environmental and political flavour.