Ethel Stefana Drower née Stevens (1 December 1879 – 27 January 1972) was a British

British people

The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

 anthropologist who studied the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

 and its cultures. She was considered the primary specialist on the Mandaeans

Mandaeism

Mandaeism or Mandaeanism is a Gnostic religion with a strongly dualistic worldview. Its adherents, the Mandaeans, revere Adam, Abel, Seth, Enosh, Noah, Shem, Aram and especially John the Baptist...

, and the chief collector of Mandaean manuscripts.

She was a daughter of a clergyman. In 1910 she married Edwin Drower, and began writing a series of romantic novels for Mills and Boon and other publishers. In 1921 she accompanied her husband, as Lady Drower following her husband's knighthood, to Iraq where Sir Edwin Drower was adviser to the Justice Minister from 1921 to 1946.
Her works include The Canonical Prayerbook of the Mandaeans (a translation of the Qolusta

Qolusta

Qolusta is the canonical prayerbook of the Mandaeans, a present day gnostic sect within Iraq and Iran. It was translated into English by E. S. Drower.-External links:** at the Internet Archive...

); The Secret Adam (Mandaeans again); and The Peacock Angel (about the Yezidis).