Hester by Mrs. (Margaret) Oliphant. 1984 Virago Modern Classic edition (c/r 1883), 495 pages. As per the Margaret Oliphant website: "During the Victorian era Margaret Oliphant's novels were tremendously popular, many of them best sellers. She was critically acclaimed and compared to Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Anthony Trollope. In recent years Mrs Oliphant has been rediscovered and is once more acknowledged as one of the great Victorian writers." Hester, one of a hundred novels authored by Oliphant, portrays two strong women as they navigate family and capitalism. 

Condition: Good used copy.

"And thus life went on, very gay, fast, amusing and expensive on one side; very quiet and uneventful on the other."