author

Fanny Parkes Parlby

1794–1875

A sharp-eyed traveler and memoirist, she left one of the most vivid English-language accounts of everyday life in 19th-century India. Her writing stands out for its curiosity, independence, and close attention to the people and places around her.

3 Audiobooks

Grand moving diorama of Hindostan : displaying the scenery of the Hoogly, the Bhagirathi, and the Ganges, from Fort William, Bengal, to Gangoutri, in the Himalaya

Grand moving diorama of Hindostan : displaying the scenery of the Hoogly, the Bhagirathi, and the Ganges, from Fort William, Bengal, to Gangoutri, in the Himalaya

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 1 (of 2) : During four-and-twenty years in the east; with revelations of life in the zenāna

Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 1 (of 2) : During four-and-twenty years in the east; with revelations of life in the zenāna

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 2 (of 2) : During four-and-twenty years in the east; with revelations of life in the zenāna

Wanderings of a pilgrim in search of the picturesque, Volume 2 (of 2) : During four-and-twenty years in the east; with revelations of life in the zenāna

by Fanny Parkes Parlby

About the author

Born Frances Susanna Archer in 1794, she became known as Fanny Parkes after marrying Charles Crawford Parkes of the East India Company in 1822. Later often listed as Fanny Parkes Parlby, she spent about twenty-four years in India, where she kept detailed journals that would become her best-known work.

Her memoir, Wanderings of a Pilgrim in Search of the Picturesque (1850), draws on those years in India and is valued for its lively descriptions of travel, social life, and encounters across cultures. Unlike many British writers of her time, she showed deep curiosity about Indian languages, customs, music, and domestic life, including the zenana.

That mix of observation and personal independence has kept her work in print and of interest to historians and general readers alike. She died in 1875, but her journals still offer a memorable window into colonial India through the eyes of a restless and engaged traveler.