Phoebe, Junior is the granddaughter of the Tozers, pillars of Carlingford’s dissenting congregation, Salem Chapel. Phoebe is the daughter of Phoebe Tozer and Henry Beecham, a dissenting minister who has risen about as far as a dissenting minister can go. Phoebe, Junior is well-educated, well-traveled, and used to London life. An extended stay in Carlingford to care for her ailing grandmother is a shock to her sensibilities, but she rises to the occasion.

Phoebe had made the acquaintance of Ursula May in London. Ursula is a poor relation of the Dorset family, who are also related to the Copperheads. Ursula’s father is the rector of St. Roque in Carlingford. Ursula and Phoebe overcome the class barrier to form a friendship. Their social circle includes Ursula’s clergyman brother, Reginald, Salem Chapel’s interim minster, Mr. Northcote, and Clarence Copperhead, whose father is an influential member of Henry Beecham’s congregation in London.

The novel explores social, economic, and religious differences. The elders in the novel set great store by these differences in status. However, the young people discover that their peers on the other side of the divide aren’t quite the ogres they’ve been warned against all their lives, and they form “unsuitable” attachments before they quite realize what’s happening. The novel could easily have been a romantic comedy if not for the financial pressures that weigh heavily enough on Mr. May for him to succumb to temptation. ( )

I did not enjoy this as much as [b: Miss Marjoribanks|514761|Miss Marjoribanks (Chronicles of Carlingford, #5)|Mrs. Oliphant|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1387733208s/514761.jpg|502725] and felt that some of the social commentary and Anglican/Dissenter rhetoric went over my head; as often happens, too, it took me about a quarter of the book to begin to really feel the characters and various plotlines. However, I just love Oliphant's way with words, her eye for character, and her humor, and this is a pretty satisfying end to the series. I actually found Mr. May's dilemmas and moral downfall to be the most interesting storyline and wanted that to be dug into more.

I'm sure I'll read all of these again! What next--Trollope? And which non-Carlingford Oliphant should be next in my queue...? ( )

While Phoebe Beecham’s roots are in the town of Carlingford, she had not spent much time there before arriving to care for her ailing grandmother. Phoebe’s parents are of a higher social standing than her grandparents, who are shopkeepers. But duty calls, and Phoebe gladly rises to the occasion. In Carlingford she meets Ursula May, who had once admired Phoebe from a distance, at a ball. The two become friends despite differences in both class and religious practice. Ursula’s father, a clergyman, tends to live beyond his means and accepts an offer to tutor Clarence Copperhead, son of a wealthy, arrogant London businessman. Both Clarence and Ursula’s elder brother Reginald set their sights on Phoebe. At the same time, Ursula is being courted by a young man for the first time, and her father has run into serious money trouble.

Margaret Oliphant keeps all three storylines in motion and they eventually converge in fairly standard Victorian fashion. Like the rest of Oliphant’s Chronicles of Carlingford, this book is filled with small-town church politics and romance, with a dose of wit and satire. The beginning showed promise but lost momentum when a fairly basic story was extended to a full-length novel. Although not quite as good as some of the earlier books in the series, Phoebe Junior is still a pleasant read. ( )

bookshelves: winter-20132014, victorian, published-1876, under-50-ratings, women, lit-richer, britain-england, play-dramatisation, series, filthy-lucre, families, classic
Read from January 02 to 03, 2014

Phoebe Junior by Margaret Oliphant. Description: Margaret Oliphant was one of the most prolific and popular writers of her day. Her domestic novels are steeped in the broad social, political, and religious worlds of the Victorian era, and her Chronicles of Carlingford series stands as an insightful portrait of English life. Phoebe Junior, the last of this series, examines Victorian class dynamics by following the social mobility of one family and the effects of this mobility on the daughter, Phoebe.

R4x drama

BBC Blurb: 4 Extra Debut. In 1875, Carlingford jealousies and rivalries arise as Mrs Oliphant returns to focus on Phoebe Beecham's family. With Elizabeth Spriggs.

2. A New Gentleman: A shock awaits Phoebe Beecham when she arrives in Carlingford to visit her sick grandmother. Stars Charlotte Attenborough.

3. An Unmitigated Cub: Despite opposing religions, Reginald is attracted to Phoebe, but Mr Northcote's arrival sparks friction. Stars Timothy West.

4. A Guilty Bit of Paper: Mr May is swept towards the conclusion of his deceitful action. For others, there's upset and surprise. Stars Elizabeth Spriggs.

Have a problem with the modern spin that states Oliphant is the female Trollope when T's oeuvre, for me, a snoozefest. Love the hattips to Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, however, overall, this is not a patch on 'Hester'. ( )

I'm having trouble deciding how I feel about this book. When it started out and was full of ridiculous characters meeting one another and conversing, it was witty in an almost Austenian way. I found myself chuckling at the absurdities of the characters. But then it digressed into the long-winded tale of the comings and goings of a group of young people, divided by class and religion, with a dramatic forgery subplot thrown in, and the book just lost its humorous appeal for me. I have trouble understanding how Oliphant managed to write over 400 pages about these people. Well, it was an interesting experience to read, but easily forgettable in my opinion. ( )