Book Description

Tucker (1821-93) was a prolific writer for adults and children who used the pseudonym A.L.O.E. (A Lady of England). Late in life she spent a period as a volunteer missionary in India where she died. Her father was twice elected chairman of the East India Company and she had a secular upbringing in London, her first writings being poems and plays to amuse the family. In 1847 she took charge of the education of her brother's three children and her earliest published work The Claremont Tales (1852) was, she said, "originally composed for young children under my charge." Her work as a children's writer was imbued with her Evangelical religious beliefs and most of her stories were allegories with a clear moral which were rendered with a degree of realism. Much of her output of over 150 titles appeared first in magazines before being collected into books and she often devoted the proceeds from her writing to missionary or charity work. Her realistic portrayals of the poor were undoubtedly drawn from her experience as a workhouse visitor. In 1875, aged 54 and having taught herself Hindustani, she set out for India where she worked as a self-supporting volunteer missionary to Amritsar, Punjab, through the Indian Female Normal School and Instruction Society. Three years later she moved to nearby Batala where she worked in a boys' school and as a teacher of Christian beliefs to native women. Many of her most interesting stories are set in India and some were translated into Indian languages.