A writer's literary fame is fragile and popularity enjoyed in life is seldom sustained after
death. From time to time their work re-emerges is revalued and their talents recognized. Such
a writer is Margaret Oliphant. To facilitate a full appreciation of her work this book offers
a comprehensive overview of Oliphant's life and work in the 1880s and 1890s an important
period in her career not previously singled out for closed scrutiny. It explores the diverse
genres she handled with skill and alacrity during these two decades characterized by innovation
and change. This talented Victorian female author is more commonly associated with works
published early on in life yet it was after the age of fifty that some of her finest most
perceptive prose came to be written. Erudite and a shrewd observer of the world around her
Margaret Oliphant rather than slowing down in these years went on to produce rich numbers of
fiction non-fiction and review articles which capture eloquently life at the close of the
century. The inclusion of material contributed by the author in her later years hard at work
in a man's world is essential in any evaluation of Oliphant's status as a Victorian author.