Elia Wilkinson Peattie (1862-1935) was a prolific American author, journalist and critic. Although she left school at 14, she was exceptionally talented as a writer, and by her 20s she was well recogized as a popular writer of short stories.

'From the Loom of the Dead' is a story with the character of an Icelandic folktale about two young orphaned children suffering at the hands of a cruel and neglectful stepmother. But the ghost of their dead mother returns to haunt the stepmother and forces her to care for the children.