Her father had over 100 books to his credit,[6] and her eldest brother, William Davenport Adams (28 December 1851 – 26 July 1904) was a noted journalist and author.
Her father was himself a schoolteacher and a family tutor[2] and may have instructed his daughters[note 5] while working as an editor and generating his prolific literary output.
[24] Although Florence had married in 1877, the 1881 census, only four years later, showed her living with Adams, her parents, and her younger brother at Victoria Road, Solihull, Birmingham.
The 1891 census found Adams and Florence living with their parents at 46 Alexandra Road in Wimbledon, London,[note 6] the address at which her father died on 30 December 1891.
Adams was still living at 67 Chelverton road with Florence at the time of the 1911 census, both now giving their profession or occupation as "Journalism and Literature".
[59] Sims and Clare state that Adams "typifies the turn-of-the-century girls’ writer in many ways" and that her books "are half-way between the Victorian tale which sought to provide moral edification and its successor which hid the pill in a very heavy coating of sugar.
"[27]: 68 Her obituary [note 39] states that Adams "had a strong sympathy with children" and "understood the needs of girls", which enabled here to given to every story a definite plot and real characters.
Sims and Clare state that Adams's treatment of children who have been warped or stunted by neglect on the part of their adult carers is particularly interesting.
Her first published novel Colonel Russell's Baby is told from the perspective of a girl, who is nine at the start of the story, and is a study of her character, "unsparingly minute in its method".
[45] Sims and Clare call her characterisation of two sisters in On Honour, who have been badly brought up by a mean and selfish aunt, "moving and credible".