Nemesis

by Marion Harland

Finding true love is seemingly a life-long challenge for Malcomb Argyle, the heir-apparent of his family estate. And which of the various devious characters will eventually assume the title role?

499 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1860

About the author

Mary Virginia Terhune (née Hawes), also known by her penname Marion Harland, was an American author. At age twenty-three she won a $50 prize from the Southern Era periodical for her article on temperance. Encouraged, she published her first novel, Alone, to great acclaim. Despite giving birth to six children and running a household, she never stopped writing, eventually publishing twenty-five novels and three volumes of short stories, as well as numerous books on travel, biography, colonial history, and domestic guidance.

Despite her successful career, Terhune was generally unsupportive of the nascent feminism of her day. Ironically, according to Susan Koppelman in the Old Maids anthology (the source of this biographical note):

She has long been dismissed as an unimportant writer, partly because of her phenomenal output (I think many critics assume that such quantity can't be of high quality) and partly because of the fact that those who cherish the ideals she advocated do not ordinarily go looking for forgotten women writers.

Terhune's three surviving children also became authors.

Reviews

[Jeffrey M · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deep into the story the author still cloaks exactly which character will take on the title role.

Religious fervor jumps in a bit heavily in a couple of instances, but the characters exhibit a fervent belief that right is theirs; you well know that karma will manage to avenge the wrongs.