In the third volume, several years on, a more sombre Miss Marjoribanks reflects on her choices and whether life has turned out as she hoped after all. She begins by holding regular Thursday evening parties to introduce the population to culture, before embarking on a series of adventures including promoting a candidate for parliament. Lucilla Marjoribanks is an educated and confident young woman who decides to take her father, the local doctor, and Carlingford society generally in hand. I was immediately captivated by Miss Marjoribanks. Carlingford is a fictional small town with no major industry and the stories focus primarily on the wealthy people of Grange Lane or the tradespeople of the town (there is also a poor district but the characters there never assume prominence). All but one were published in the period 1861-65 (Oliphant was famously prolific), the last, Phoebe Junior, appeared in 1876. Miss Marjoribanks is the sixth of seven Chronicles of Carlingford, which consist of two short stories, The Executor and The Rector, one short novel and four long novels. (It was the promise of a Victorian Emma which sold me.) It was while looking for new old authors that I stumbled across a BBC article highlighting lesser known classics including Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant. For some reason I haven’t found much to enjoy in newly published books recently, and have instead been losing myself in the nineteenth century.
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