Novelist and literary critic Amy Dillwyn (1845-1935) was born in Swansea and spent most of her life there, becoming a pioneer of women's involvement in industrial and public life. After her father's death in 1892 she managed the Dillwyn Spelter Works, her unorthodox views and and way of life bringing her a reputation for eccentricity. She was a literary critic of some standing and her review of Treasure Island (1883) for the Spectator helped to discover the talent of Robert Louis Stevenson. Her first novel, The Rebecca Rioter (1880), is set in the Swansea area. In her later novels all pass comment on contemporary society. Information taken from Meic Stephens' New Companion to the Literature of Wales (University of Wales Press, 1998)