≡ Libro Free Miss Marjoribanks Penguin Classics Margaret Oliphant 9780140436303 Books

Miss Marjoribanks Penguin Classics Margaret Oliphant 9780140436303 Books

Download As PDF : Miss Marjoribanks Penguin Classics Margaret Oliphant 9780140436303 Books

Miss Marjoribanks Penguin Classics Margaret Oliphant 9780140436303 Books

Miss Marjoribanks is by the prolific Margaret Oliphant. Published in 1865, it is in her Carlingford series, which she modeled after Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series. Carlingford is a mythical town in England, and the series chronicles the lives and fortunes of various inhabitants--sometimes focusing on one neighborhood and the mores of it, and sometimes on another. Carlingford is, according to Oliphant, "essentially a quiet place" with "no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular."

Miss Marjoribanks tells the story of Lucilla Marjoribanks, only daughter of the town's doctor. Her mother dies early in the book, and as soon as Lucilla finishes with her schooling she returns to Carlingford to care for her father and manage the town's society.

Lucilla is a completely unique heroine--I've never encountered anyone quite like Lucilla, either in the flesh or in print or on the stage. She's a cross between Austen's Emma Woodhouse, Stella Poste (from Cold Comfort Farm), and Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde). She has a super-abundance of self-confidence, self-consciously runs shallow (yes, there is nothing more important than getting the exact shade of green wallpaper for her drawing room so as to complement her complexion), loves to be in charge and should be (no one else comes close to her management abilities), has blinders on when it comes to her own heart, but is supremely big-hearted.

The narration is charming--ironic, indulgent, and self-conscious--very similar to Trollope in this, but thankfully without Trollope's tendency to insert lectures on ecclesiastical law and form. Easy to read, but long-winded at times--after all Oliphant wrote for the money (she was a widow and had children and extended family to support) and spun out the story in serialization for much longer than she needed to. That said, it was fun to read and I only found it tiresome occasionally. The introduction to the Penguin Classics edition that I read described the tone of Oliphant and Miss Marjoribanks in particular as sardonic--perhaps I took it too much at face value, but I felt it more ironic than cynical.

There are some wonderful other characters in Miss Marjoribanks as well. Tom, Lucilla's cousin, could've been a model for Georgette Heyer's scattered-but-enthusiastic young lover hero type. There is a brother-sister combo (Mr. Cavendish and his sister Mrs. Woodburn) who are not fair from Henry and Mary Crawford, although Mrs. Woodburn's thing is to mimic people, which makes her an interesting cross between contemptible and pitiful. There are a pair of sisters, Rose and Barbara Lake, many rungs down on the social scale from the divine Miss M, who are utterly fascinating to me--the first is a fiery, tiny Pre-Rafaelite artist and the second is a talented singer who just wants a nice wedding.

The novel surprised me many times with its modern feel. Many of the characters felt much more Edwardian than Victorian, and Lucilla herself freely acknowledged how much better at politics she was than the men she championed. The men acknowledge this too!

Oliphant's Lucilla is a portrait of a strong, capable female who makes all her own decisions as well as those of the men in her life but is not a shrew (not a trace of Becky Sharp here), or a doormat (nothing of Agnes Wickfield from David Copperfield), or pious (much as I love Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch, she can be holier than thou).

Much like Oliphant herself, Lucilla is resourceful, practical, and far-seeing. I loved spending time with her, which is good because my version clocked in at just under 500 pages.


Tags : Miss Marjoribanks (Penguin Classics) [Margaret Oliphant] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b> She who held the reorganisation of society in Carlingford in her hands was a woman with a mission </b>   Lucilla Marjoribanks is determined to look after her widowed father and become 'the sunshine of his life' whether he likes it or not. Once installed back at home and presiding over her father's drawing room,Margaret Oliphant,Miss Marjoribanks (Penguin Classics),Penguin Classics,0140436308,Classics,Bildungsromane,Bildungsromane.,Love stories,Love stories.,Young women - England,Young women;England;Fiction.,19TH CENTURY ENGLISH NOVEL AND SHORT STORY,19th century fiction,Classic fiction,Classic fiction (pre c 1945),England,English,FICTION Classics,FICTION Literary,Fiction,Fiction-Classics,GENERAL,Great BritainBritish Isles,Literature - Classics Criticism,LiteratureClassics,Literature: Classics,Literature: Texts,Novels, other prose & writers: 19th century,ScholarlyUndergraduate,Young women,19th century; victorian; english literature; classic books; british literature; classic literature; dickens; historical romance; historical; marriage; school; literary fiction; drama; literary; gothic; adventure; classic fiction; 20th century; 18th century; american literature; satire; british fiction; fiction; classics; fiction books; literature; classic; england; anthony trollope; trollope; thomas hardy; penguin classics hardcover; jane austen; regency; short stories; comedy; mystery; austen; charles dickens; love; feminism,classic;literary fiction;classic literature;classic novels;classic books;classics;fiction;novels;fiction books;literature;books fiction;classics books;realistic fiction books;classic fiction;england;victorian;romance;english literature;historical;gothic;drama;anthony trollope;dickens;mystery;horror;love;historical romance;school;satire;marriage;feminism;shakespeare;short stories;comedy;fantasy;trollope;american literature;adventure;romance books;regency romance;philosophy;annotated;modernism,FICTION Classics,FICTION Literary,Literature - Classics Criticism,19th Century English Novel And Short Story,England,Young women,Fiction,Literature: Classics,19th century fiction,Classic fiction,Classic fiction (pre c 1945),Literature: Texts,Novels, other prose & writers: 19th century,English

Miss Marjoribanks Penguin Classics Margaret Oliphant 9780140436303 Books Reviews

Set in Victorian England where women's lives were rather stereotyped and powerless, Miss Marjoribanks comes onto the scene as a dynamo of energy. Ever since the death of her fragile invalid mother when she was only a 16-year-old girl at boarding school, Lucilla has known that her life work was to overhaul the boring social life of her home town and bring joy and comfort into the life of her father, a medical doctor. Dr. Marjoribanks doesn't see himself to be in need of this diversion, but at the ripe age of 19. Miss Marjoribanks explodes on the scene with her plan well-formed. Many hilarious situations arise as she delicately and tactfully accomplishes all she had planned and more besides. Will she triumph? Will she marry? And if so, which of the well-positioned suitors? This story will keep you laughing and guessing right up to the end. Lucilla is so different from the pale, languid heroines that usually star in Victorian novels, that I would like to read a sequel, but I doubt that one is available. I would give this book six or more stars if that were possible.
This was my first read by Mrs. Oliphant, but it won't be my last. I was recommended to her from my readings of Anna Katharine Green. I found Lucilla (Miss Marjoribanks of the title) to be a refreshing character, especially in her stated goal of being a "comfort to her papa" and her response to marriage (hers) "if THAT'S what I wanted, I would never have come home."

Her machinations in the name of society are a site to behold. A fun read for those who like Victorian era fiction, fiction dealing with society and social class and that beloved matchmaker Emma.

Mrs. Oliphant does a well enough job that the ending isn't really that foreshadowed and for some, it may come as a great surprise. There are happy and sad times in the book, all and all, it kept me reading and you can't place a much higher compliment than that!
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.
Miss Marjoribanks is by the prolific Margaret Oliphant. Published in 1865, it is in her Carlingford series, which she modeled after Anthony Trollope's Barsetshire series. Carlingford is a mythical town in England, and the series chronicles the lives and fortunes of various inhabitants--sometimes focusing on one neighborhood and the mores of it, and sometimes on another. Carlingford is, according to Oliphant, "essentially a quiet place" with "no trade, no manufactures, no anything in particular."

Miss Marjoribanks tells the story of Lucilla Marjoribanks, only daughter of the town's doctor. Her mother dies early in the book, and as soon as Lucilla finishes with her schooling she returns to Carlingford to care for her father and manage the town's society.

Lucilla is a completely unique heroine--I've never encountered anyone quite like Lucilla, either in the flesh or in print or on the stage. She's a cross between Austen's Emma Woodhouse, Stella Poste (from Cold Comfort Farm), and Elle Woods (from Legally Blonde). She has a super-abundance of self-confidence, self-consciously runs shallow (yes, there is nothing more important than getting the exact shade of green wallpaper for her drawing room so as to complement her complexion), loves to be in charge and should be (no one else comes close to her management abilities), has blinders on when it comes to her own heart, but is supremely big-hearted.

The narration is charming--ironic, indulgent, and self-conscious--very similar to Trollope in this, but thankfully without Trollope's tendency to insert lectures on ecclesiastical law and form. Easy to read, but long-winded at times--after all Oliphant wrote for the money (she was a widow and had children and extended family to support) and spun out the story in serialization for much longer than she needed to. That said, it was fun to read and I only found it tiresome occasionally. The introduction to the Penguin Classics edition that I read described the tone of Oliphant and Miss Marjoribanks in particular as sardonic--perhaps I took it too much at face value, but I felt it more ironic than cynical.

There are some wonderful other characters in Miss Marjoribanks as well. Tom, Lucilla's cousin, could've been a model for Georgette Heyer's scattered-but-enthusiastic young lover hero type. There is a brother-sister combo (Mr. Cavendish and his sister Mrs. Woodburn) who are not fair from Henry and Mary Crawford, although Mrs. Woodburn's thing is to mimic people, which makes her an interesting cross between contemptible and pitiful. There are a pair of sisters, Rose and Barbara Lake, many rungs down on the social scale from the divine Miss M, who are utterly fascinating to me--the first is a fiery, tiny Pre-Rafaelite artist and the second is a talented singer who just wants a nice wedding.

The novel surprised me many times with its modern feel. Many of the characters felt much more Edwardian than Victorian, and Lucilla herself freely acknowledged how much better at politics she was than the men she championed. The men acknowledge this too!

Oliphant's Lucilla is a portrait of a strong, capable female who makes all her own decisions as well as those of the men in her life but is not a shrew (not a trace of Becky Sharp here), or a doormat (nothing of Agnes Wickfield from David Copperfield), or pious (much as I love Dorothea Brooke in Middlemarch, she can be holier than thou).

Much like Oliphant herself, Lucilla is resourceful, practical, and far-seeing. I loved spending time with her, which is good because my version clocked in at just under 500 pages.