Margaret Oliphant (1828–1897)
Author of Miss Marjoribanks
About the Author
Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (née Margaret Oliphant Wilson) (4 April 1828 - 25 June 1897), was a Scottish novelist and historical writer who married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant. Oliphant's first novel was published in 1849, Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland. The book dealt show more with the Scottish Free Church movement. Oliphant, during an often difficult life, wrote more than 120 works, including novels, books of travel and description, histories, and volumes of literary criticism. Among the best known of her works of fiction are: Adam Graeme (1852), The Marriage of Elinor (1892), The Ways of Life (1897). She died at Wimbledon, London, on 25 June 1897. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Image credit: Mrs. Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897)
Series
Works by Margaret Oliphant
The Atlas of the Ancient World: Charting the Great Civilizations of the Past (1992) 171 copies, 1 review
The Literary History of England in the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century (1882) 9 copies
Delphi Works of Margaret Oliphant with Complete Stories of the Seen and Unseen (Illustrated) (Series Five Book 18) (2015) 7 copies
Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland of Sunnyside - Scholar's Choice Edition (2009) 7 copies
Merkland, a Story of Scottish Life, by the Author of 'passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland'. (2009) 4 copies
Annals of a publishing house : William Blackwood and his sons, their magazine and friends Volume II 4 copies
Annals of a publishing house: William Blackwood and his sons, their magazine and friends vol 1 (1974) 3 copies
Annals of a publishing house: William Blackwood and his sons, their magazine and friends (1974) 3 copies
The Literary History of England in the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Volume 2 (1882) 3 copies
Memoirs and Resolutions of Adam Graeme of Mossgray. Including Some Chronicles of the Borough of Fendie: Volume 2 (1999) 3 copies
La finestra 2 copies
Lillies Leaf: being a concluding series of Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland, etc. 2 copies
Agnes Hopetoun's schools and holidays : the experiences of a little girl / with illustrations (1859) 2 copies
The Literary History of England in the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Volume 3 (1882) 2 copies
The Life and Times of Queen Victoria - with which is incorporated "The Domestic Life of the Queen" 1 copy
Annals of a publishing house: William Blackwood and his sons, their magazine and friends vol 3 (1974) 1 copy
The Literary History of England in the End of the Eighteenth and Beginning of the Nineteenth Century, Volume 1 (1882) 1 copy
CITTA' ASSEDIATA (LA) 1 copy
Diana Trelawny 1 copy
A little pilgrim 1 copy
Oliphant Margaret 1 copy
The Quiet Heart, by the Author of 'katie Stewart'. (Orig. Publ. in Blackwood's Magazine). (2012) 1 copy
Heart and Cross 1 copy
Dante. 1 copy
John, a love story 1 copy
A Son of the Soil. A novel 1 copy
Mercy Philbrick's Choice 1 copy
The minister's wife 1 copy
Associated Works
Pride and Prejudice [Norton Critical Edition, 3rd ed.] (2001) — Contributor — 1,031 copies, 13 reviews
The Penguin Book of Ghost Stories: From Elizabeth Gaskell to Ambrose Bierce (2010) — Contributor — 186 copies, 4 reviews
The Valancourt Book of Victorian Christmas Ghost Stories (2016) — Contributor — 185 copies, 6 reviews
The Phantom Coach: A Connoisseur's Collection of Victorian Ghost Stories (2014) — Contributor — 63 copies, 1 review
British Women Writers: An Anthology from the Fourteenth Century to the Present (1989) — Contributor — 61 copies, 1 review
The Lifted Veil: The Book of Fantastic Literature by Women 1800-World War II (1806) — Contributor — 45 copies
The Gentlewomen of Evil: An Anthology of Rare Supernatural Stories from the Pens of Victorian Ladies (1967) — Contributor — 29 copies
The Third Ghost Story Megapack: 26 Classic Ghost Stories (2013) — Contributor — 19 copies, 2 reviews
A Serious Occupation: Literary Criticism by Victorian Women Writers (2003) — Contributor — 15 copies
The Other voice : Scottish women's writing since 1808 : an anthology (1988) — Contributor — 10 copies
The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (Annotated): Volume 16 (2023) — Contributor — 4 copies
The Wimbourne Book of Victorian Ghost Stories (Annotated): Volume 10 (2018) — Contributor — 3 copies
The Midnight Inkwell: Sinister Short Stories by Classic Women Writers (2023) — Contributor — 3 copies
Memoirs of the life of Anna Jameson, etc. [With a postscript by Mrs. M. O. Oliphant.] — Postscript — 2 copies
Wakacje Wśród Duchów — Contributor — 2 copies
Gwiazdka Z Duchami 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Other names
- Oliphant, Margaret Oliphant Wilson (married name)
Wilson, Margaret Oliphant (birth name)
Melville, Christian (pen name)
Oliphant, Mrs. - Birthdate
- 1828-04-04
- Date of death
- 1897-06-25
- Gender
- female
- Occupations
- writer
cultural historian
novelist
essayist
autobiographer - Short biography
- Margaret Oliphant Wilson was born in Wallyford, near Musselburgh, Scotland, the daughter of a customs house official. The family moved to Liverpool, England, when she was a child. She began writing as a teenager. In 1852, she married her cousin Francis Oliphant, an artist, and turned to writing to help support them and their seven children. Her first published work was Passages in the Life of Margaret Maitland (1849), and she became a regular contributor to Blackwood's Literary Magazine. Her husband died in 1859 while on a family trip to Italy, leaving Margaret pregnant. John Blackwood sent her funds to enable her to return to England and to relocate to Elie in Fife. She wrote more than 100 novels, biographies, translations, travel books, and collections of short stories during her prolific career. Her best-remembered works are the group of novels known as The Chronicles of Carlingford, which consisted of The Rector and the Doctor’s Family (1863), Salem Chapel (1863), The Perpetual Curate (1864), Miss Majoribanks (1866), and Phoebe Junior (1876). Many of her popular works focused on Scottish life, including The Minister’s Wife (1869) and Kirsteen (1890). She also wrote a volume of supernatural stories, Tales of the Seen and Unseen, and an autobiography that was published posthumously in 1899.
- Nationality
- UK
- Birthplace
- Wallyford, Haddingtonshire, Scotland, UK
- Places of residence
- Florence, Italy
Rome, Italy
London, Middlesex, England, UK
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, UK
Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland, UK
Windsor, Berkshire, England, UK (show all 8)
Glasgow, Lanarkshire, Scotland, UK
Lasswade, Midlothian, Scotland, UK - Place of death
- Wimbledon, London, Middlesex, England, UK
- Burial location
- Eton Parish Cemetery, Eton, Berkshire, England, UK
- Map Location
- Scotland, UK
Members
Discussions
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 6: Phoebe, Junior in Virago Modern Classics (June 2023)
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 5: Miss Marjoribanks in Virago Modern Classics (March 2023)
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 3: Salem Chapel in Virago Modern Classics (November 2022)
Victorian Readalong Q3: Hester by Margaret Oliphant in Club Read 2022 (September 2022)
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 4: The Perpetual Curate in Virago Modern Classics (August 2022)
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 2: The Doctor's Family in Virago Modern Classics (November 2021)
Margaret Oliphant's Chronicles of Carlingford 1: The Executor / The Rector in Virago Modern Classics (November 2021)
Reviews
The Victorian novel, Salem Chapel by Margaret Oliphant is interesting, but rather odd. It starts out as a light, almost comic story of a dissenting minister just out of college who is off to his first congregation. He has dreams of setting the world on fire, his deacons in the congregation want a good preacher who will bring in more congregants and their donations without rocking the boat, and the women want him to preside at their parties and marry one of their daughters. This sort of wry show more social observation is where Oliphant is at her best (IMHO). But then it moves into high Victorian melodrama with an evil seducer and bigamist out to ruin the preacher's sister and sell his own daughter, with his avenging wife hot on his trail with murder in her eye. It's certainly not her finest work (I'd give that honor to "Miss Majoribanks" set in the same Carlingford location as this and several other of he novels), but she was a widow who had to write a LOT of novels to keep her family afloat, so I suspect the melodramatic turn was to boost sales.
None the less, it was still absorbing enough to keep me reading to the end, and if the minister, Arthur Vincent, is immature and annoying at times, it is more than made up for in the characters of Mrs. Hilyard and Adelaide Tufton, two very different but very unusual women who are supporting characters. show less
None the less, it was still absorbing enough to keep me reading to the end, and if the minister, Arthur Vincent, is immature and annoying at times, it is more than made up for in the characters of Mrs. Hilyard and Adelaide Tufton, two very different but very unusual women who are supporting characters. show less
Readers first met Dr. Rider in The Executor as Bessie Christian’s not-quite suitor whose hopes were dashed when the Christians did not inherit their wealthy relative’s estate. The young doctor’s unwillingness to marry a young woman from a poor family doesn’t make a good first impression on modern readers. The young doctor’s back story may soften readers’ attitudes toward him. Dr. Rider is supporting an elder brother who is either unwilling or unable to work. Fred Rider had lived show more in Australia for a while, where he married and had children. Dr. Rider is dismayed when his sister-in-law, her sister, and his niece and nephews show up unannounced. When the doctor makes it clear he is unable to support his brother’s entire family, his sister-in-law’s sister, Nettie, takes their support upon herself. Dr. Rider’s admiration for Nettie soon grows into love. Will their duty to their needy siblings keep them apart?
It’s refreshing to read a romance about imperfect characters. Dr. Rider is easily annoyed and ill suited for martyrdom, and Nettie has an exaggerated sense of duty. As troubles mount, the two must wrestle with their own natures and find a compromise that will lead to happiness. show less
It’s refreshing to read a romance about imperfect characters. Dr. Rider is easily annoyed and ill suited for martyrdom, and Nettie has an exaggerated sense of duty. As troubles mount, the two must wrestle with their own natures and find a compromise that will lead to happiness. show less
It seems that Frank Wentworth, the curate of St. Roque’s, is to be a perpetual curate, unable ever to afford to marry and so his love for Lucy Wodehouse must remain undeclared. The new rector of Carlingford has taken an almost instant dislike to Frank, and he does everything in his power to make Frank miserable. Frank’s maiden aunts have a living that they could bestow on him, but Frank is too Romish for his domineering aunt Leonora’s evangelical taste. Frank unwittingly becomes the show more center of a scandal in Carlingford, while at the same time he’s called upon to manage a Wentworth family crisis. Through it all, Frank never loses his optimism about the future or his devotion to his duty.
Carlingford’s residents are by now familiar to readers of the previous stories and novels, and Frank and Lucy are some of its most likable citizens. There’s enough humor throughout that it wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as a romantic comedy. The characterizations are well-drawn, with echoes of both Austen and Dickens. Its primary flaw is in the pacing, with a suspenseful plot that line resolves earlier than it should. show less
Carlingford’s residents are by now familiar to readers of the previous stories and novels, and Frank and Lucy are some of its most likable citizens. There’s enough humor throughout that it wouldn’t be wrong to describe it as a romantic comedy. The characterizations are well-drawn, with echoes of both Austen and Dickens. Its primary flaw is in the pacing, with a suspenseful plot that line resolves earlier than it should. show less
This is the sequel to 'Squire Arden', which I enjoyed very much. I'm quitting this one at 44%, although maybe I will return to it some day. The first third was extremely slow and repetitive and focussed on my least favourite characters from the first book, the enigmatic Mrs Murray and annoying Jeanie. The extreme class consciousness which I am beginning to realize permeates all Mrs Oliphant's work is part of the plot here and Edgar, having been a very sympathetic character in 'Squire Arden', show more here reveals himself to be impetuous, snobbish and self-pitying. show less
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Statistics
- Works
- 246
- Also by
- 53
- Members
- 3,148
- Popularity
- #8,112
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 110
- ISBNs
- 531
- Languages
- 9
- Favorited
- 13
