Margaret Oliphant - Victorian domestic realism

Portrait of Margaret Oliphant — Margaret Oliphant – Source: Wikipedia
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Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (born Margaret Oliphant Wilson; 4 April 1828 – 20 June 1897) was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works cover “domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural”. (Source: Wikipedia)

Margaret Oliphant began writing at an early age and published her first novel, Margaret Maitland, in 1849. At the age of 31, following the death of her husband in 1859, Margaret Oliphant turned to literature to support herself and her three remaining children, three children having died in infancy. Her only surviving daughter died in 1864. For middle- and upper-class women in Victorian England, writing was one of the few ways to earn a living.

A prolific writer, in a 48-year period she published countless articles, critical works, essays and short stories, and no less than 97 novels.

Many of them remain much loved today, and are well worth reading for fans of classic English literature. I am currently rereading my old favourites, and will provide brief outlines of them here, as and when I get through them. Enjoy!

cover of Hester by Margaret Oliphant — Hester – Margaret Oliphant
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Hester: A Story of Contemporary Life (1883)

Hester is a richly-detailed portrait of the Vernon family, set in the town of Redborough, England. Vernon’s Banking House is a thriving bank owned and run by John Vernon. When rumours gather about a possible run on the bank, John Vernon is nowhere to be found. His wife (Mrs Vernon) has no idea where he is. To save the bank, a distraught senior clerk, Mr Rule, calls on Catherine Vernon. Catherine is a wealthy woman in her own right, and part owner of the bank, but she has hitherto had no part in running it. The following morning she arrives at the bank and uses her own money to save the bank from the run and from ruin.

From this day, Catherine assumes the position as head of the bank, which thrives under her skillful management. She uses part of her wealth to establish a community of various less-well-off members of the Vernon family in properties she owns around the town, including The Vernonry.

Some years later, Mrs Vernon returns from the Continent. Her husband has died and she brings with her, to live in The Vernonry, her 14 year-old daughter, Hester.

Hester has no idea about the scandal attached to her father’s name, and does not understand Catherine’s hostility to her.

The novel recounts Hester’s life as she grows to womanhood. It’s a wonderful portrait of ordinary domestic life, marked by typical small-town petty ambitions and jealousies, small acts of ordinary kindness and generosity, secrets and misunderstandings.

Oliphant’s characters are what make her novels sing. They are vivid, three-dimensional and complex. Hester herself is noble but sometimes petty, kind but occasionally cruel. Intelligent, but sometimes blinded by her emotions. She loves and takes great care of her mother, despite her vacuous prattle, but is frustrated and enraged by her position and Catherine’s haughty treatment of her. She wants to love and be loved, but she also wants to live larger, to do something grand and important. She does not want to be nothing but a ‘wife’.

What the reader sees is two strong, intelligent women, Catherine and Hester, who spend years disliking, needling and insulting each other, blind to how very alike they are.

I can’t recommend Hester highly enough. It’s a treat!