Miss Marjoribanks Paperback – 29 October 1998

Miss Marjoribanks is by the prolific Margaret Oliphant. Published in 1865, it is in her Carlingford series, which she modeled after Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series. Carlingford is a mythical town in England, and the series chronicles the lives and fortunes of various inhabitants--sometimes focusing on one neighborhood and the mores of it, and sometimes on another. Carlingford is, according to Oliphant, "essentially a quiet place" with "no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular."Miss Marjoribanks tells the story of Lucilla Marjoribanks, only daughter of the town's doctor. Her mother dies early in the book, and as soon as Lucilla finishes with her schooling she returns to Carlingford to care for her father and manage the town's society.Lucilla is a completely unique heroine--I've never encountered anyone quite like Lucilla, either in the flesh or in print or on the stage. She's a cross between Austen's Emma Woodhouse, Stella Poste (from Cold Comfort Farm), and Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde). She has a super-abundance of self-confidence, self-consciously runs shallow (yes, there is nothing more important than getting the exact shade of green wallpaper for her drawing room so as to complement her complexion), loves to be in charge and should be (no one else comes close to her management abilities), has blinders on when it comes to her own heart, but is supremely big-hearted.The narration is charming--ironic, indulgent, and self-conscious--very similar to Trollope in this, but thankfully without Trollope's tendency to insert lectures on ecclesiastical law and form. Easy to read, but long-winded at times--after all Oliphant wrote for the money (she was a widow and had children and extended family to support) and spun out the story in serialization for much longer than she needed to. That said, it was fun to read and I only found it tiresome occasionally. The introduction to the Penguin Classics edition that I read described the tone of Oliphant and Miss Marjoribanks in particular as sardonic--perhaps I took it too much at face value, but I felt it more ironic than cynical.There are some wonderful other characters in Miss Marjoribanks as well. Tom, Lucilla's cousin, could've been a model for Georgette Heyer's scattered-but-enthusiastic young lover hero type. There is a brother-sister combo (Mr. Cavendish and his sister Mrs. Woodburn) who are not fair from Henry and Mary Crawford, although Mrs. Woodburn's thing is to mimic people, which makes her an interesting cross between contemptible and pitiful. There are a pair of sisters, Rose and Barbara Lake, many rungs down on the social scale from the divine Miss M, who are utterly fascinating to me--the first is a fiery, tiny Pre-Rafaelite artist and the second is a talented singer who just wants a nice wedding.The novel surprised me many times with its modern feel. Many of the characters felt much more Edwardian than Victorian, and Lucilla herself freely acknowledged how much better at politics she was than the men she championed. The men acknowledge this too!Oliphant's Lucilla is a portrait of a strong, capable female who makes all her own decisions as well as those of the men in her life but is not a shrew (not a trace of Becky Sharp here), or a doormat (nothing of Agnes Wickfield from David Copperfield), or pious (much as I love Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch, she can be holier than thou).Much like Oliphant herself, Lucilla is resourceful, practical, and far-seeing. I loved spending time with her, which is good because my version clocked in at just under 500 pages.

This an interesting tale, but I found rather difficult to read, with long sentences and very long paragraphs. Oliphant does tend to labour her points, and often takes several pages to state something that could be stated much more succinctly. Whilst I can truthfully say I enjoyed it, I don't think I shall be reading it again.

"Miss Marjoribanks" is set up in a mock epic style following the social conquering of Carlingford by Lucilla Marjoribanks when returns to her hometown after years in school and on the Grand Tour. The omniscent narrator sets the epic tone, and this more than the plot or character development carries the story along. Lucilla's work to bring order to the chaos of Carlingford social life causes her mostly success with a few small failures thrown in, but she doesn't seem to ever grow in awareness as do the heroines of Jane Austen's or Anthony Trollope's novels. This lack of character development and absence of a strong plot made this novel less satisfying than those of Trollope, Austen, Fielding and the like. But the narration is amusing and makes the book readable and moderately enjoyable.

Mrs Oliphant (or Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant) was born in 1828 and died in 1897. She married her cousin, Frank Wilson Oliphant in 1852, and he died only a number of years later, leaving her with three surviving children. Writing was her lifeline and her income earner.She wrote more than 120 works, including novels, books of travel, histories, and volumes of literary criticism. Miss Marjoribanks (1866) was one of her Chronicles of Carlingford novels, a series of novels set in and around the area of Carlingford, an idea popular with writers at the time, as witness Anthony Trollope’s Barchester novels.This is the first of Mrs Oliphant’s books that I have read, and I found it thoroughly delightful. The author has a most mischievous approach in her writing, and it is light and witty, yet never superficial. The characters are wonderfully well drawn, and the narrative most intriguing. The world in which Miss Marjoribanks seeks to be the social ruler is full of wonderful characters, and it is a delight to read a novel of such insight into a world long since passed, its cultural and societal mores. Definitely recommended, and I look forward to reading more of the author’s works.

This version is printed on 8.5x11 inch paper, with very small font, so the lines of text are very long and densely packed. And the paragraphs are often long enough to fill half a page or more, so it's very hard for your eye to follow each line. I am forced to use a ruler to keep from getting lost in the text as I read. Terrible choices by the publisher, but it explains why it's so cheap. It looks and feels like someone's self-published, home-made novel, except that the writing is good. Definitely buy this book, but get it from a different publisher!