On the Face of the Waters

On the Face of the Waters is a novel by English author Flora Annie Steel. It was first published in 1897 when it was hailed by critics as one of the best novels dealing with the Indian Rebellion of 1857. It is divided into five books of six chapters each (except Book II which has seven).

The novel is based heavily on research that Flora Annie Steel conducted in India, to the extent that Steel often provided the accurate hour, date, and weather of important historical events that interweave through the plot and characters of the novel. She was able to secure access from government officials to previously confidential records about the Indian Rebellion. She wrote in her autobiography that it was like “digging for gold, uncertain each instant if some priceless treasure would not turn up. And there was a breathless haste, an inevitable hurry about it, almost as if the spirit of the times had been caught and prisoned in the papers”.