The Remarkable Life of Frances Emily Steele

About the Book

The Remarkable Life of Frances Emily Steele, a novel by Ethard Wendel Van Stee, is the story of the adventures of a headstrong young woman who willfully emancipates herself from the bonds of conventional behavior in the 19th century. As a descendant of William Marsden Brandt, whose story is told in Mr. Van Stee’s novel Moira’s Scythe, she is mysteriously affected by her heritage, which is expressed in a unique way. As a teenager, Frances has an encounter with a pair of operators who teach her an early lesson in human behavior. She marries young and after two years deserts her family in search of adventure in Ireland during the great potato famine. Narrowly escaping the noose, she flees to North America with the Molly Maguires. Still unhappy with her lot, she joins the Crimean War effort as a nurse and a spy for the British. Frances meets and befriends the Russian nurse Helena Petrovna Blavatsky. They leave the war together, heroes, and return to London where for many years they live most unusual lives in a fine manor house. Decades later, Kareena Faulkner, the irrepressible academic from Moira’s Scythe, with the help of graduate student Emily Elaine Carter, returns to unravel the mystery of Frances’s life.

About the Author

Mr. Van Stee lives in South Carolina and is director of the Beaufort Writers organization. His e-mail address is evanste@islc.net.