Margaret Oliphant

Margaret Oliphant's books are available on Amazon now so you don't need to be limited to the few books that Virago published.

I love The Rector and the Doctor's Family; I also like Salem Chapel, but I don't reread the other Virago books, such as Miss Marjoribanks, very often. I love Agnes, Carita, and He Who Will Not When He May which are available on Amazon. (Pricey, so my collection of Oliphant's books has grown slowly). All of these go more deeply into the consequences of our early decisions in life and develop the character and dilemmas of the mother/older woman, a much neglected person in literature.

I love Jane Austen and Dickens, too, but now prefer Margaret Oliphant to Trollope. Reading many of Margaret Oliphant's work feels like a leisurely visit with a very wise aunt. Am I the only person whose heart ranks Oliphant the highest of all the writers, even if my head recognizes her uneveness?

There are also a few of Mrs Oliphant's works available as ebooks from Project Gutenberg. I am yet to read any of them, but will have to bump them higher up the to-read list if they are as good as/better than Trollope! :)

I'm a big fan of Margaret Oliphant! The Carlingford Chronicles are probably most similar to Trollope since they're set in the clerical community. I loved Salem Chapel and Miss Marjoribanks.

Hester (which isn't in the Carlingford chronicles) is also a brilliant book and one of the few which is still in print (Oxford Worlds Classics still publish I think.)

There are many published in the Virago Modern Classics, even though they are getting increasingly more difficult to find.