At the end of the nineteenth century Flora Annie Steel's short stories and novels of Indian and Anglo-Indian life established her reputation as Rudyard Kipling's only serious rival. The comparison with Kipling reflected the stature accorded her work but also established the criteria for criticism. Especially in her short stories, Steel focused not on Anglo-Indian life but on rural Indian life, the contrasts between Eastern and Western conduct and philosophy, and on Indian women. In a 1907 survey of Anglo-Indian fiction Edward Farley Oaten noted in particular that "the tales display a very accurate knowledge of native habits and ways of thought." In her novels she represented Anglo-Indian as well as her Indian interests, prompting Sir Alfred Lyall in his October 1899 Edinburgh Review essay to observe somewhat regretfully of On the Face of the Waters (1896), her novel of the 1857 mutiny, "Here at any rate is a book which is...