Flora Annie Webster Steel

Born in 1847 in England, Flora Annie Webster Steel became one of the best-known Anglo-Indian writers of her time. After marrying Henry William Steel in 1867, she spent about twenty-two years in India, chiefly in the Punjab, an experience that shaped much of her writing.

She was especially noted for fiction connected with the Indian subcontinent, including On the Face of the Waters, a novel set during the uprising of 1857. She also wrote Tales of the Punjab, helping introduce Indian folk stories to English-language readers, and co-wrote The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook, a book that remained widely known.

Steel returned to Britain in the late nineteenth century and continued writing for many years. She died in 1929, leaving behind work that is still read for its storytelling and for the window it offers into British India and the literary culture of her era.