Miss Marjoribanks

by Margaret Oliphant

Paperback, 1999

Status

Available

Call number

823.8

Publication

Penguin Classics (1999), Paperback, 512 pages

Description

Classic Literature. Fiction. HTML: Love Jane Austen's Emma? If so, you'll relish every page of Margaret Oliphant's Miss Marjoribanks. Part of the author's Carlingford Chronicles, this delightful novel follows the indomitable Lucilla Marjoribanks, who returns to her hometown to take care of her father. She inserts herself into the local social scene with her trademark abundance of confidence, but will her machinations and plans be well received by the townspeople?.

User reviews

LibraryThing member Kasthu

Miss Marjoribanks is the story of Lucilla Marjoribanks, a young woman who endeavors to improve the social life of the town of Carlingford and “be a comfort to [her] dear papa.” Lucilla admits freely that she has no sense of humor; but at the same time she has an infallible desire to organize

things to her own satisfaction. Whether she’s choosing draperies (to match her own complexion, of course), arranging her neighbors’ marriages, or electioneering, Lucilla is an spirited woman who inevitably learns that she “had to undergo the mortification of finding out that many of her most able efforts turned to other people’s profit and went directly against herself.” This book is not only a story of Lucilla, but the middle-class town she lives in, filled with people who have social and professional ambitions.

What I love about Margaret Oliphant’s writing is that she really knows and understands her characters’ thoughts and motivations. Lucilla could easily turn into a easily-disliked character, except for the fact that her flaws are what make her so lovable. This novel is intended to be a satire; how I laughed when in all seriousness Lucilla says, at age nineteenth, that she will have begun to “go off” at age 29! And Lucilla isn’t the only character who is so well-defined; the other young ladies and gentlemen of Carlingford easily leap off the page. Margaret Oliphant’s writing style is easily readable, even for modern readers. It’s a long book, and there are some parts in the middle where the action starts to flag; but in all this is a wonderful novel, containing as it does wonderful characters and writing—as well as a little mystery involving mistaken identities.

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LibraryThing member Jaylia3

Resourceful, optimistic, determined, and unflappable, Miss Marjorie Marjoribanks would make a delightful, though perhaps slightly controlling, companion. While staying dutifully--albeit perhaps a bit technically--inside the closely circumscribed boundaries of what is correct and proper behavior for

a young Victorian woman, Miss Marjoribanks is able to manage just about every aspect of life in her little town, including politics, even though she can’t, of course, actually vote.

After finishing school and taking a brief tour of the continent, Miss Marjoribanks comes back home to “be a comfort” to her dear papa, a modest and selfless goal she mentions frequently at the most strategic times. Her mother had died a few years back and while her father, the town doctor, finds his life quite complete, Miss Marjoribanks is determined to make it better. She also has a quite a few other things in mind to improve the social life of the town as well, including holding lively and soon beloved Thursday evening gatherings in her father’s drawing room, which she had specially painted in a shade to flatter her complexion (she thinks of everything!).

Miss Marjoribanks decides she’ll continue on this course for 10 years, long enough to make up for papa having had the expense of redecorating the drawing room, before she thinks about getting married. But even Miss Marjoribanks can’t anticipate everything that will happen.

Some readers and reviewers have remarked that Marjorie Marjoribanks is like Jane Austen’s Emma but less irritating, and I concur completely with that sentiment. It’s a long book, and it did drag a little in the middle for me, but the story has a wonderful ending and it’s filled with a variety of spirited, humorous, mostly lovable characters.

My pleasure in this book was greatly enhanced by dialogue with reading partners--Miss Marjoribanks was an April buddy read with the Dead Writers Society on GoodReads and the Reading the Victorian Book Club on BookLikes.

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LibraryThing member wealhtheowwylfing

This is a novel about small-town Victorian society told in the driest, most sarcastic style. Oliphant has few illusions about the strictures and privileges of genteel life, an no illusions at all about her sturdy heroine. Miss Lucille Marjoribanks is a strong-willed, large-bodied young woman with

little sense of humor or wit but an incredible talent for social interaction. Within a matter of months, she is the center of her little town of Carlingford's society. Told with a light, yet hilarious narrative style, this is a funny yet insightful look at mid-Victorian society.

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LibraryThing member Misfit

What a great find, and refreshing as it lacks much of the high melodrama so common in most 19th century literature. Miss Lucilla Marjoribanks comes home from school determined to be a comfort to dear papa and sets the good doctor and the entire town on their ears, with her brilliant manipulations.

The characters are wonderful, the story has lots of ups and downs that Lucilla is always capable of meeting with great ingenuiuty and fortitude. There are many wonderful moments and lots of laughter along with a few tears. Higly recommended, particularly for anyone who enjoys 19th century English literature.

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LibraryThing member urduha

Reminded me of Emma, but less everything.

LibraryThing member KCummingsPipes

Orig. published in 1866, this delightful book tells the story of Lucilla Marjoribanks, "possessed by nature of that kind of egotism, or rather egoism, which is predestined to impress itself, by its perfect reality and good faith, upon the surrounding world." Nineteen-year-old Lucilla, comes home to

Carlingford to devote herself to her dear father's comfort and to undertake the remaking of her drawing room and Carlingford society. She is wittier than Austen's Emma and more endearing than Eliot's Dorothea. A complete delight! Elizabeth Jay's introduction is superb.

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LibraryThing member thatotter

This was a very pleasant read, though it probably benefited from low expectations on my part. More similar to Austen's Emma than anything else. It has a much lighter tone than most Victorian novels, but it's more than just froth. Funny and satisfying.

LibraryThing member lauralkeet

When Lucilla Marjoribanks finishes school she returns home to Carlingford professing that her life's work is “to be a comfort to my dear papa,” who was widowed a few years earlier. As de facto lady of the house, she elevates her father’s standard of hospitality and begins

“revolutionizing” local society through events every Thursday evening. Her confidence and grace give her instant influence and power, which she uses to great effect. Lucilla is able to steer away unwanted suitors, and right old wrongs in order to unite those meant to be together. Meanwhile Lucilla herself remains steadfastly independent, unusual for a Victorian era woman.

This is the penultimate novel in Margaret Oliphant’s Chronicles of Carlingford, and yet for some reason is set earlier than any of the other novels. Lucilla struck me as a possible model for E.F. Benson’s Lucia, especially when she meddled in the lives of others while staunchly defending altruistic motives. Oliphant is also adept at satire and humor, and made me laugh several times. And yet, Lucilla was a bit of a one-trick pony, and the abrupt “fast forward” in time which occurred about ⅔ of the way through, seemed a rather forced way to allow Lucilla to do more of the same with a different cast of characters.

This is still a decent read, and when I complete the series I will miss the world created by this feminist contemporary of Anthony Trollope.

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LibraryThing member cbl_tn

Lucilla Marjoribanks is still at school when her mother dies. From that point on, Lucilla claims her life’s goal is to “be a comfort to papa”. It’s Lucilla herself who defines what “being a comfort” means. Dr. Marjoribanks is known for the hospitality of his dinners, with his guests

being mainly the men of Carlingford. Upon Lucilla’s return from school at age 19, she organizes Thursday evenings for the ladies, with the men joining them after their dinner. Lucilla determines to devote ten years to being “a comfort to papa” before marrying, thinking that she’ll probably have “gone off” in ten years’ time. She has no lack of potential suitors during this time, including her cousin, Tom; Mr. Cavendish, whose ability to flirt is so useful to Lucilla’s Thursday evenings, and archdeacon Mr. Beverly.

Lucilla is an unconventional heroine. She knows it, Carlingford knows it, and her author surely knows it. Her high opinion of herself and her abilities could easily come across as arrogant, yet time after time events and circumstances prove that she accurately judges her own value.

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