Flora Annie Steel

The Potter's Thumb, Volume II (Dodo Press) Flora Annie Steel

Flora Annie Steel nee Webster (who also wrote under the pseudonym A Fellow Mortal) (1847-1929) was an English writer. In 1867 she married a member of the Indian civil service, and for the next twenty-two years lived in India, chiefly in the Punjab, with which most of her books are connected. She was interested in relating to all classes of Indian society. The birth of her daughter gave her a chance to interact with local women and learn their language. She encouraged the production of local handicrafts and collected folk-tales. Her interest in schools and the education of women gave her a special insight into native life and character. In 1889 the family moved back to Scotland, and she continued her writing there. Her most ambitious effort was her novel, On the Face of the Waters (1896), describing incidents of the Indian Mutiny. She also wrote a popular history of India. Her other works include: Tales of the Punjab (1894), The Potter's Thumb (1894), The Adventures of Akbar (1913), English Fairy Tales (1918) and The Law of the Threshold (1924).