Böcker av Margaret Oliphant

It was Colonel Kingsward himself who introduced Mr. Aubrey Leigh to the family. He was a young man who was travelling for the good of his health, or rather for the good of his mind, poor fellow, as might be seen at a glance. He was still in deep mourning when he presented himself at the hotel. Nevertheless, he had not been long among them before Bee taught him how to smile, even to laugh, though at first with many hesitations and rapid resuming of a still deeper tinge of gravity, as if asking pardon of some beloved object for whom he would not permit even himself to suppose that he had ceased to mourn. This way he had of falling into sudden gravity continued with him even when it was evident that every decorum required from him that he should cease to mourn. The pale young man drove out the image of the Captain at once from Bee's mind. She had perhaps had enough of captains, fine uniforms, spurs, and all. They had become what modern levity calls a drug in the market. They made Fenster parade all day long under her windows; they thronged upon her steps in the gardens; they tore the flounces from her tarlatan into pieces at the balls. It was something far more original to sit out in the moonlight and look at the moon with a sorrowful young hero, who gradually woke up into life under her hand. Bee was only nineteen. She had mocked and charmed and laughed at a whole generation of young officers, thinking of nothing but picnics and dinner parties and balls. She wanted something new upon which to try her little hand -- and now it was thrown, just when she felt the need, in her way. She had turned a young fool's head several times, so that the operation had lost its charm. But to bring a sad man back to life, to drive away sorrow, to teach him to hold up his head again, to learn how sweet it was to live and smile, and ride and run about this beautiful world, and wake every day to a new pleasure -- that was something she felt worthy of a woman's powers. And she did it with such effect that Mr. Aubrey Leigh went on improving for three weeks more, and finally ended up with that proposal which was to the Kingsward family in general the most amusing, the most exciting, the most delightful incident in the world.

Many of the earliest ghost stories and tales of hauntings, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.

Margaret Oliphant was widely recognised at the time of her death as one of the great Victorian writers of fiction. Yet many of Oliphant's works remain unavailable. This novella recounts the story of Mr. and Mrs. Lycett-Landon and of what becomes of their marriage when Mr. Lycett-Landon becomes uncommunicative while on an extended business trip.

An influential and prolific Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) wrote novels, short stories, biographies and a series of cultural histories of European cities through biographical sketches, of which this is the last. Originally published in 1895, it paints a vivid picture of the development of Rome from the fourth century to the Renaissance.

An influential and prolific Victorian author, Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) wrote novels, short stories, biographies and a series of cultural histories of European cities through biographical sketches, of which this is the second. Originally published in 1887, it paints a vivid picture of the development of Venice during the middle ages and Renaissance.

The Scots novelist Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) published this biography of the playwright and poet Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1751-1816) in the first 'English Men of Letters' series in 1883. Sheridan is best known for his plays The Rivals, A Trip to Scarborough, and The School for Scandal, which was his most popular work among his contemporaries. Sheridan was also at one point the owner of the famous Theatre Royal on Drury Lane, which he purchased with his father-in-law in 1776. He led a radical political career, becoming a Whig MP in 1780 and quickly developing a reputation as a brilliant orator. He defended the French Revolution and supported American colonists against British colonial policy. Oliphant's biography covers Sheridan's youth, dramatic writing, political career and middle age; her vivid and sympathetic portrayal provides a valuable insight into his remarkable life.

Margaret Oliphant (1828-97) was a Scots novelist who published over one hundred works. This posthumous autobiography of 1899, edited by a cousin, brings together unpublished narrative fragments and letters selected to bridge any gaps. It provides valuable insights into the condition of women in the Victorian era.

Women novelists dominated the market in Victorian times, covering all genres from the mainstream to the Gothic, religious and sensational. Some are now classic household names whilst others, popular in their time, lie neglected on the shelves. This collection of appraisals of female writers by female writers was published in 1897 as a contribution to the celebrations of Queen Victoria as the longest reigning British monarch. The brief is exact: only those whose work was done after the Queen's accession and who were dead would be included. Nonetheless, the range is wide and includes essays on the Brontes, George Eliot and Mrs Gaskell, by Margaret Oliphant, Eliza Lynn Linton and Ada Ellen Bayly respectively, as well as appraisals of Catherine Crowe, Mrs Archer Clive and Mrs Henry Wood (author of East Lynne), by Adeline Sergeant, and the children's authors Charlotte Tucker and Juliana Ewing by Emma Marshall.

Kirsteen, from an old but impoverished family, rebels against her father and flees to London. Against the odds she finds work, striving for independence against a world determined to drag her down. Written in the late 1800s, Kirsteen is a startlingly modern novel in its treatment of women and work.

Margaret Oliphant (1828-1897) is best known as the author of nearly one hundred novels, but also wrote short stories and biographies. Closely connected with Blackwoods of Edinburgh from 1851, shortly before her death she was commissioned to write a history of the publishing firm by director William Blackwood, grandson of the founder. From small beginnings, the firm had rapidly become the leading Scottish publishing house, dominating the literary world, particularly through Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine and an impressive list of famous authors. These included Thomas de Quincey, Walter Scott, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The Magazine introduced the convention of having novels issued in serial form before publication as a book, which became standard practice for authors such as Dickens, Thackeray and Eliot. Volume 2 continues to 1861 and the death of the second William Blackwood, and includes landmarks such as the opening of a London branch, and George Eliot's first novels.

First published posthumously, Annals of a Publishing House contains the early history of the influential Scottish publishing house, William Blackwood and Sons, by one of its most successful authors, Mrs Oliphant. Volume 1 covers the early history of the firm, the Edinburgh Magazine, its writers and rivals.

Hester (1883) is about the difficulty of understanding human nature, and a compulsive story of financial and sexual risk-taking that mounts towards a searing climax. It tells of the ageing but powerful Catherine Vernon, and her conflict with the young and determined Hester, whose growing attachment to Edward, Catherine's favourite, spells disaster for all concerned.

MISS MARJORIBANKS is one of her Chronicles of Carlingford. Exquisite and entertaining comedies of Victorian provincial Society.

HESTER, first publsihed in 1883, is both a remarkable portrayal of two strong women and a fascinating study of capitalism and the family - those two solid mainstays of Victorian England.