2.5 stars, rounded down.

I am so on the fence about this novel! There were parts of it I liked and parts that made me want to pull my hair. I never felt any affinity for any of the characters or cared what happened to them--and that never bodes well. I believe Mrs. Oliphant could have achieved everything she managed in half the verbiage. There were frequent spots where it went on and on and on, to no avail.

Mr. Arthur Vincent is a young, inexperienced pastor, who takes on the congregation of Salem Chapel, a dissenter’s church in Carlingford. He immediately embroils himself in the personal problems of a mysterious woman, Mrs. Hilyard, who attends the church but is not a recognized member, and a lady who is well outside his position, Lady Alice Western. One look at Lady Western, and Mr. Vincent is ready to risk his life and livelihood in pursuit of her slightest smile; and while no amount of attention is enough to shower on this woman, he shows very little filial concern for his mother or his sister, both of whom become involved as he does in a bit of intrigue that could be their ruin. The mother and sister are independently dragged into the same plot as Arthur by a thread that is so thin as to be ludicrous. It requires a coincidence that is a bit too much to swallow.

One third of the way in, the plot began to unfold and the mystery surrounding Mrs. Hilyard sparked my curiosity. At the same time, the detrimental situation of Mr. Vincent’s sister also developed and I felt the novel begin to take shape and pull me in. Sadly, Mrs. Oliphant chose to get as much mileage from her plot as possible--which meant the search went on forever, the mother droned endlessly, and Vincent suffered more sermons from his deacons than he delivered from his pulpit. By the time I had reached the final third of the book, I simply wanted it to be over.

Perhaps the greatest reason for reading a novel such as this one is the comparison it invites with those truly remarkable writers of the period. I could not help thinking how George Eliot might have handled this same story, how she would have infused these characters with meaning and made their experiences matter to the reader. Alas, I felt no such attachment under Mrs. Oliphant’s hand. So, I said I was on the fence, but I think, while writing this review, I dropped to one side of it.
( )

Arthur Vincent is a recent graduate of Homerton, where Dissenting ministers are educated. He is called to pastor Carlingford’s Salem Chapel and he begins his ministry with lofty expectations. His hopes are soon dashed by his perceptions of the shortcomings of the congregation. Arthur views himself as an intellectual, and the Chapel members are tradesmen rather than scholars. He would much rather spend his time with the beautiful widow, Lady Weston, to the dismay of his congregants. Then Arthur’s mother arrives to seek her son’s advice on his young sister’s engagement. Disaster strikes while Susan is home alone, and the scandal threatens Arthur’s position.

This book is nothing like the two Carlingford short stories and the novella that preceded it. A little emotion goes a long way. Oliphant would have been kinder to her readers by cutting out much of the flowery prose and long descriptions of Arthur and Mrs. Vincent’s emotional states and letting the characters’ actions speak for them. ( )

My, this was turgid. And I LIKE Victorian melodrama and ENJOYED the previoius volume of Carlingford Cgromicles. And Mrs Oliphant can write; and does a pretty good job of evoking characters. But, by golly, this was AWFUL!
Arthur Vincent - a young Nonconformist pastor, of respectable but middling background, sets out on his first job. Disappoined, somewhat, by the well-meaning but distinctly lowbrow folk he must engage with - and infatuated from afar by the lovely Lady Weston- he goes about his work.
And then becomes caught up in a complicated and interminable plot, regarding a strange local seamstress, Mr Vincent's pure and innocent sister (engaged to be married....) and his prudent mother...and Lady Weston.
Golly, it went on! When you're 50 pages fromn the end and ALMOST giving up on whole thing, you know it's failed as a novel. Emphatically one for the charity shop.. ( )

I greatly enjoyed reading this novel. Margaret Oliphant is a very talented 19th-century author; she takes joy in delineating the intricacies of town and village life in England. I highly recommend this novel if you like novelists like Jane Austen or Anthony Trollope, and would like to introduce yourself to her work. Sometimes you will find her listed as "Mrs. Oliphant," and sometimes as "Margaret Oliphant." After this one, if you enjoy it, you can move on to some of the other novels in her "Carlingford Chronicles." ( )

When Arthur Vincent assumes his post as Carlingford's new Nonconformist minister, he runs the usual gauntlet of parishioners testing his mettle. Some relationships are cordial, such as that with Tozer the butterman, or the needlewoman Mrs Hilyard. Others are more fractious. And then there's the young dowager Lady Western, whose beauty and manner fuel Vincent's passion, and blind him to things going on right under his nose. When his sister Susan disappears with a man she believes is good (but of course is not), Vincent fears for her life and his clerical duties become secondary to finding Susan and returning her home safely.

The The Chronicles of Carlingford are similar to Trollope's Chronicles of Barsetshire, in that the church is central to the story, and while Margaret Oliphant's writing is not satirical, she does show a sense of humor in her characterizations. Vincent's mother, herself the wife of a minister, was especially likeable both in her caring for her son and in the ways she quietly but effectively dealt with difficult parishioners. Published in the 1860s, these are classic Victorian novels, where good always triumphs over evil, but mistakes carry a heavy social cost. Vincent is criticized for asking a colleague to take his place on a Sunday, so he can search for Susan. Susan's reputation hangs in the balance throughout the novel, and even after the truth comes out it seems preferable for her to put distance between herself and Carlingford. Vincent is also hung up on potentially lasting repercussions, and takes steps which today would seem completely unnecessary.

From a 21st-century perspective, this book could move a little faster towards its conclusion, and with some editing could be a shorter work. But it is typical of its time, and enjoyable when read with that knowledge. ( )