A review by egelantier
Miss Marjoribanks by Margaret Oliphant

4.0

this was a trip and a half. i didn't know, before that book, how much i'm apparently into this genre of... drawing room competence porn? i guess? it's a long, merciless, gently hilarious book about one victorian young woman's mission to rule her town's society with a benevolent yet iron fist. lucilla marjoribanks comes home to just be a comfort for her dear papa, and then beautifully and gracefully navigates the snark waters of her hometown, bringing people together and organizing perfect parties and meddling in a matchmaking way where matchmaking is required for the good of the humanity. there are difficulties and drawbacks and romantic tangles, and a lot of victorian class nastiness, and little and big complications, and lucilla floats through all of them in a serene, beautiful, authorially endorsed surety of her self.

the main draw, for me, is less the setup itself and more how surely oliphant is on lucilla's side. there's some comedy and some gentle humor, but lucilla is neither humbled nor mocked; she's not a particularly nice person, but she's an efficiently good one; she leaves the book unbowed and victorious.