The greatest heiress in England

by Mrs. Oliphant, Mrs. Oliphant

The greatest heiress in England.

383 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2020

About the author

Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (née Margaret Oliphant Wilson) was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works encompass "domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural".

Margaret Oliphant was born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, and spent her childhood at Lasswade (near Dalkeith), Glasgow and Liverpool. As a girl, she constantly experimented with writing. In 1849 she had her first novel published: Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland which dealt with the Scottish Free Church movement. It was followed by Caleb Field in 1851, the year in which she met the publisher William Blackwood in Edinburgh and was invited to contribute to the famous Blackwood's Magazine. The connection was to last for her whole lifetime, during which she contributed well over 100 articles, including, a critique of the character of Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.

Reviews

[Jill Tait · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm constantly amazed that Margaret Oliphant's books haven't been re-printed. They are all available online free on Gutenberg Press, but there's nothing quite like turning the pages, is there? . She loved writing, and this comes through all her work (a huge collection). Her prose style is deeply satisfying and entertaining. Her plots are drawn out in the Victorian style, but hang in there, you won't be disappointed! You will need to bear in mind that morals and styles were very different, but her characters are so well drawn and individual it doesn't really matter - you'll still keep going through all the chapters wanting to know what happens next, which is surely the mark of a very good book!