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The Interloper
"The Interloper" by Violet Jacob follows Gilbert Speid as he returns to his family estate and encounters the enigmatic Lady Eliza Lamont, leading to revelations about his family's past. Themes of family, inheritance, and human relationships are explored as Gilbert unravels the mysteries surrounding his heritage. The novel delves into the complexities of identity and the impact of secrets on individuals and their interactions, culminating in a dramatic race against time to prevent a wedding. "The Interloper" is a compelling tale of love, betrayal, and the search for truth.
349 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1904
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About the author
Violet Jacob
51 books6 followersViolet Jacob was a Scottish writer, now known especially for her historical novel Flemington (1911) and her poetry, mainly in Scots.
She was born Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, the daughter of William Henry Kennedy-Erskine and Catherine Jones. The area of Montrose where her family seat of Dun was situated was the setting for much of her fiction. In 1894 she married Arthur Otway Jacob, an Irish Major in the British Army, and accompanied him to India where he was serving. Her book Diaries and Letters from India 1895-1900 is about their stay in the Central Indian town of Mhow. The couple had one son, Harry, born in 1895, who died as a soldier at the battle of the Somme in 1916. Arthur died in 1936, and Violet returned to live at Kirriemuir, in Angus.
In her poetry Violet Jacob was associated with Scots revivalists like Marion Angus, Alexander Gray and Lewis Spence in the Scottish Renaissance, which drew its inspiration from early Scots poets such as Robert Henryson and William Dunbar. The Wild Geese, a poem of longing for home, was set to music as Norlan' Wind and popularised by Angus singer and songmaker, Jim Reid.
She was born Violet Augusta Mary Frederica Kennedy-Erskine, the daughter of William Henry Kennedy-Erskine and Catherine Jones. The area of Montrose where her family seat of Dun was situated was the setting for much of her fiction. In 1894 she married Arthur Otway Jacob, an Irish Major in the British Army, and accompanied him to India where he was serving. Her book Diaries and Letters from India 1895-1900 is about their stay in the Central Indian town of Mhow. The couple had one son, Harry, born in 1895, who died as a soldier at the battle of the Somme in 1916. Arthur died in 1936, and Violet returned to live at Kirriemuir, in Angus.
In her poetry Violet Jacob was associated with Scots revivalists like Marion Angus, Alexander Gray and Lewis Spence in the Scottish Renaissance, which drew its inspiration from early Scots poets such as Robert Henryson and William Dunbar. The Wild Geese, a poem of longing for home, was set to music as Norlan' Wind and popularised by Angus singer and songmaker, Jim Reid.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
October 3, 2021
In The Interloper, the cosmopolitan Gilbert Speid comes to the Scottish countryside to settle after his father dies and he inherits his land. But a secret regarding Gilbert's parentage threatens to lower his position in the community and to part him forever from the woman he loves.
I'm in the habit now of checking Project Gutenberg for new additions of interest, which is how I found The Interloper. It's an entertaining enough read, but it seems that Violet Jacob had a grand vision of a dramatic climax and couldn't quite satisfactorily formulate the preceding plot elements in a way that would build up to it plausibly. Her characters make arbitrary decisions in order to further along the melodrama when the conflict would have realistically been resolved much sooner and without reaching such a height of intensity.
But boy, was it a height of intensity! I won't give away any specifics here, but I'll hide this part for those who want to go into the book with no prior notions about the general nature of the ending:
Yet, in spite of this book's flaws, I continue to think about it after finishing it and to appreciate the landscapes that the author painted in my mind's eye and the characters I got to know.
I'm in the habit now of checking Project Gutenberg for new additions of interest, which is how I found The Interloper. It's an entertaining enough read, but it seems that Violet Jacob had a grand vision of a dramatic climax and couldn't quite satisfactorily formulate the preceding plot elements in a way that would build up to it plausibly. Her characters make arbitrary decisions in order to further along the melodrama when the conflict would have realistically been resolved much sooner and without reaching such a height of intensity.
But boy, was it a height of intensity! I won't give away any specifics here, but I'll hide this part for those who want to go into the book with no prior notions about the general nature of the ending:
Yet, in spite of this book's flaws, I continue to think about it after finishing it and to appreciate the landscapes that the author painted in my mind's eye and the characters I got to know.
February 16, 2025
Set on the east coast of Scotland at the turn of the 19th century, Violet Jacob's early work tells of the return of Gilbert Speid (the Interloper of the title) to the estate of Whanland which he has inherited from the man he thought of as his father. What follows is a complex tale of dark secrets from the past, a romantic encounter with a beautiful orphaned neighbour and jealous rivals. Of far more interest then the predictable love story is the colourful array of minor characters who affect the outcome of the tale and and the engaging and, at times, highly comic style of writing. Though not a classic, this novel deserves to be better known.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews