Book excerpt: Phoebe, Junior' is the last novel in Oliphant’s 'Chronicles of Carlingford' originally published in 1876. Phoebe Beecham's father is the Dissenting minister of a large, wealthy London chapel. (Her mother, born Phoebe Tozer of Carlingford, was a character in an earlier Carlingford novel Salem Chapel.) Phoebe "Junior" is well educated, and has been raised to have the manners of a lady. When she goes on a long visit to her shop-keeper grandparents in Carlingford, she expects she must adjust to their lower station in life. Margaret Oliphant was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. During her career she wrote more than 120 works, including novels travelogues, histories and volumes of literary criticism. Two of her better-known fictional works are Miss Marjoribanks (1866) and Phoebe Junior (1876). Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, with a new introductory biography.