I don’t have a lot to work with but it is a unique story so fingers crossed. I recall it was an English author – the main character was a brave, strong and resourceful young girl called Terrie. She so impressed me I decided at 13 years old I wanted to be a person like her, I knew would even change my name legally one day (and I did). I read it in 1967 from a country Australian library so it would unlikely be a new book so am guessing it was written in the fifties or very early sixties. It’s not much to go on, but there are very few books with a main character called Terrie. So I am just hoping someone may have also read it and knows the title or author. I don’t think it was a biography I recall it was fiction. As I am now 70 the chance to re read this book would be truly wonderful, and yes I did mould my character on her and had a very adventurous life- so am eternally grateful to the author.
Could it be: “The Trouble with Terry” by Joan M. Lexau? The main character is an adventurous, young girl named Terry (different spelling) and it was published in 1962.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1785563.The_Trouble_with_Terry
This is probably too early, but just in case: Terrie’s Moorland Home by Amy Le Feuvre, 1918.
Probably too early, and not spelled the same way, but there is Dorothea Moore: Terry the Girl Guide (1912) where the heroine is certainly brave and resourceful.