Born in England, she married Henry William Steel in 1867. From then until 1889, the couple lived in India. Her husband worked for the Indian Civil Service and she spent her time gaining a knowledge of Indian life. She began to urge educational reform on the government of India and became an inspector of Government and Aided schools in the Punjab. She began to collect folk-tales, which she published in 1894 as Tales of the Punjab. Her first book, Wide Awake Stories, had appeared in 1884. Naturally, the majority of her works are set in the Punjab and India. In 1889, the family returned to Scotland where she continued to write until her death. Her works include The Complete Indian Housekeeper and Cook (1888), From the Five Rivers (1893), The Potter's Thumb (1895), On the Face of the Waters (1896), The Hosts of the Lord (1900), A Book of Mortals (1905), A Prince of Dreamers (1908), The Mercy of the Lord (1914), Marmaduke (1917), English Fairy Tales (1922) and The Garden of Fidelity: Being the Autobiography of Flora Annie Steel 1847 to 1929 (1930 Posthumous). |
