Excuse my dust: Margaret Oliphant
Scotland
- Passages in the Life of Mrs Margaret Maitland, of Sunnyside, written by herself (1849, first novel): unusual book for a 21 year old – life of a Scottish spinster, “a quiet eldern woman”.
- Katie Stewart, a True Story – first of over 100 contributions to Maga (July to November 1852): based on maternal great aunt who had seen Prince Charlie ride into Edinburgh.
- The Quiet Heart, 1854 (Maga): girl breaks off engagement to a writer because he is hostile to her mother, a dignified Scottish lady. Daughter becomes a self-supporting painter.
What does she write about - Victorian life with a twist
- Chronicles of Carlingford – loosely connected series of short stories and novels set in a fictitious small-town
- Wide and complex range of characters
- Themes: family life (parents/children); class issues; money; women/men (sexual cruelty); old/young; church politics; several plots – but marriage plot is not dominant!
- No punishment meted out to women who are “trespassing” 19 th c. roles of conduct/ different (compare to G. Eliot’s heroines)
Cover illustration for Virago edition of Phoebe Junior: Victor Corcos (1859-1933), In a Garden