E. Moberly Bell

FS 's mother was born Marie Adrienne Josephine Desfontaines . She met her husband in Mauritius and they married on 27 October 1846. She died in February 1871, while FS was still in her teens...

According to FS 's own biographer and her husband's biographer (E. Moberly Bell and Margery Perham respectively, both of whom were friends of their subjects) it was overwork that caused such mental and physical...

FS 's biographer argues that while the plot is fictitious the characters are based on Flora and her own siblings, and the story is set in their Kimmage home.