In Volume Two of Margaret Oliphant's The Ladies Lindores, serialised in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine in 1882 and published in full form in 1883, the wisdom or the folly of marrying for money is central to the agenda. Having witnessed the deep unhappiness of her eldest daughter, 'Carry', which is the result of her being married off to a wealthy but boorish mate, Lady Mary Lindores is fearful for the future of her younger daughter, Edith. Both Edith's brother, Lord Rintoul, and her avaricious father, the Earl of Lindores, are anxious that she should secure a partner of high social prestige and will brook no adverse argument - despite Rintoul's own private fascination with a lovely but 'unsuitable' young woman. Edith Lindores, however, is of a different mould than that her acquiescent sister and firmly believes in her own right to decide her fate. The Lindores' neighbour, John Erskine, the new Laird of Dalrulzian, who knew the family when they were light-hearted commoners, watches with dismay the limiting effects of the pursuit of wealth on his own heart's desire.As the novel progresses, his loyalty to the Lindores women coupled with his status as a comparative stranger to the local area, dangerously threatens his own freedom.
This second volume of The Ladies Lindores, with its sharp focus on the complexities of marital, familial or human relationships, remains one of the best observations of the imperfections of Victorian society. Anne McManus Scriven is the editor of the 'Nineteenth Century Scottish Women's Fiction' series. Holding a Ph.D (Strathclyde, 2005), which focused on the writing of Margaret Oliphant and contemporaneous works, Anne has taught undergraduate courses on Scottish Literature at the universities of Strathclyde, Glasgow and Edinburgh. She is currently an Honorary Research Fellow of the Centre for Scottish Cultural Studies at the University of Strathclyde.

Introduction by: Anne McManus Scriven