Ida Alexa Ross Wylie, also Ida Alena Ross Wylie, born 16 March 1885 in Melbourne, died 4 November 1959 in Princeton, New Jersey, usually known by her pen name I. A. R. Wylie, she was an Australian-British-American novelist, screenwriter, magazine writer and poet. Wylie had a roommate named Esme who had been raised in India and so she wrote stories based on Esme's reminisces, including this edition. First published in 1910, the Native Born tells of the lives, loves and conflicts of members of the British Raj during the 19th century Colonial Era.

The family Ingestre sat in conclave. That they sat together at all at any time other than a meal-time was in itself sufficient proof that the subject of their debate was unusually serious: their faces and attitudes added conclusive evidence. The Reverend John Ingestre occupied his chair of state at the head of the long table. He was a middle-sized man, with narrow, sloping shoulders, which were at that particular moment drawn up into an uncomfortable hunch. When he spoke he pulled at his thin beard and glanced at his wife surreptitiously over his spectacles, as though seeking her advice or...

The woman lying huddled on the couch turned her face to the wall and covered it with her hands in a burst of uncontrollable horror. "Oh, that dreadful light " she moaned. "If it would only go out It will send me mad. Oh, if it would only go out-only go out " Her companion made no immediate answer. She stood by the wall, her shoulders slightly hunched, her hands clasped before her in an attitude of fixed, sullen defiance. What her features expressed it was impossible to tell, since they were hidden by the deep shadow in which she had taken up her position. The rest of the apartment was lit...