[4] In December 1910 she brought an action for breach of promise of marriage against Michael Francis Quinn, a Roman Catholic priest, seeking £1,000 damages.
Set in the Mallee region of Victoria, the "characters are thinly disguised"[7] and the plot appears to follow the author's personal experience when a priest takes advantage of her, leading to her disgrace.
[7] In 1912, following the successful sale of nearly 5,000 copies of Smouldering Fires and with a number of other books planned, Stonehouse left Melbourne on the Scharnhorst to visit Italy and other parts of Europe, seeking to recover her health.
[9] Advocate journalist, Marion Knowles was scathing in her initial review, calling it a "most virulent attack on the Catholic Church" and a "vicious attempt to blacken the character of the priesthood".
[12] After the War, the couple moved to Australia and lived at Mortlake in Victoria, where her husband worked as a doctor and served as shire president.