Margaret Oliphant, already a well-known writer at the time, published &quot;Miss Marjoribanks&quot; in 1866. Oliphant&#39;s series for Blackwood&#39;s, &quot;<i>The Chronicles of Carlingford</i>,&quot; had been in progress and &quot;Miss Marjoribanks&quot; was the fifth novel in the series. Though Oliphant was a well-known literary figure of her time, she has only recently received critical attention from modern scholarship.<br /><br />Returning home to tend her widowed father Dr. Marjoribanks, Lucilla soon launches herself into Carlingford society, aiming to raise the tone with her select Thursday evening parties.<br />Optimistic, resourceful and blithely unimpeded by self-doubt, Lucilla is a superior being in every way, not least in relation to men.