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The Chronicles of Carlingford #2
The Doctor's Family
The Doctor's Family is the third of seven works set in the delightful country town of Carlingford. Although each work can stand alone, one episode in the first story, The Executor, does provide some background to this novel.
232 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1863
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225 people want to read
About the author
Mrs. Oliphant
1,066 books172 followersMargaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant (née Margaret Oliphant Wilson) was a Scottish novelist and historical writer, who usually wrote as Mrs. Oliphant. Her fictional works encompass "domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural".
Margaret Oliphant was born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, and spent her childhood at Lasswade (near Dalkeith), Glasgow and Liverpool. As a girl, she constantly experimented with writing. In 1849 she had her first novel published: Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland which dealt with the Scottish Free Church movement. It was followed by Caleb Field in 1851, the year in which she met the publisher William Blackwood in Edinburgh and was invited to contribute to the famous Blackwood's Magazine. The connection was to last for her whole lifetime, during which she contributed well over 100 articles, including, a critique of the character of Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
Margaret Oliphant was born at Wallyford, near Musselburgh, East Lothian, and spent her childhood at Lasswade (near Dalkeith), Glasgow and Liverpool. As a girl, she constantly experimented with writing. In 1849 she had her first novel published: Passages in the Life of Mrs. Margaret Maitland which dealt with the Scottish Free Church movement. It was followed by Caleb Field in 1851, the year in which she met the publisher William Blackwood in Edinburgh and was invited to contribute to the famous Blackwood's Magazine. The connection was to last for her whole lifetime, during which she contributed well over 100 articles, including, a critique of the character of Arthur Dimmesdale in Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 30, 2022
2.5 stars
The second part of the Carlingford Chronicles, published by Virago as a single volume with the first part, The Rector. Mrs Oliphant, was a prolific Scottish born novelist who produced over 120 works in her lifetime; novels, literary criticism, ghost stories, biographies and historical works. She was born Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant and married her cousin, also called Oliphant. Her husband died young and left her with three young children and she wrote to earn a living. She also took in various other family members who had fallen on hard times.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Edward Rider is a doctor in Carlingford. On the lookout for a wife. His brother suddenly arrives from Australia with his wife, three children and his wife’s sister Nettie, who looks after them all. Brother Fred is a drunk and does very little apart from drink, smoke and lie on couches. Dr Rider sets them up in a rented cottage and manages to fall in love with Nettie. She is having none of it as she has three children and their parents to look after and has no time for romance or marriage. Dr Rider feels strongly about his brother and family who are keeping him from his beloved:
“Edward Rider stared at his brother, speechless with rage and indignation. He could have rushed upon that listless figure, and startled the life half out of the nerveless slovenly frame. The state of mingled resentment, disappointment, and disgust he was in, made every particular of this aggravating scene tell more emphatically. To see that heavy vapour obscuring those walls which breathed of Nettie – to think of this one little centre of her life, which always hitherto had borne in some degree the impress of her womanly image, so polluted and vulgarised, overpowered the young man’s patience. Yet perhaps he of all men in the world had least right to interfere.”
There follows a couple of years of ups and downs before it is all worked out with a bit of melodrama. The characters are not particularly sympathetic. Nettie, is a heroine who seems determined to sacrifice herself and her role is all she is, as is evidenced when the role ceases:
“The work she had meant to do was over. Nettie’s occupation was gone. With the next act of the domestic drama she had nothing to do. For the first time in her life utterly vanquished, with silent promptitude she abdicated on the instant. She seemed unable to strike a blow for the leadership thus snatched from her hands.”
There are plenty of traditional tropes here and I found the whole rather unsatisfactory, particularly the ending where loose ends are tied up and everyone is happy. However I think it is the ending that those who love this appreciate. Maybe I am just perverse.
The second part of the Carlingford Chronicles, published by Virago as a single volume with the first part, The Rector. Mrs Oliphant, was a prolific Scottish born novelist who produced over 120 works in her lifetime; novels, literary criticism, ghost stories, biographies and historical works. She was born Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant and married her cousin, also called Oliphant. Her husband died young and left her with three young children and she wrote to earn a living. She also took in various other family members who had fallen on hard times.
The plot is fairly straightforward. Edward Rider is a doctor in Carlingford. On the lookout for a wife. His brother suddenly arrives from Australia with his wife, three children and his wife’s sister Nettie, who looks after them all. Brother Fred is a drunk and does very little apart from drink, smoke and lie on couches. Dr Rider sets them up in a rented cottage and manages to fall in love with Nettie. She is having none of it as she has three children and their parents to look after and has no time for romance or marriage. Dr Rider feels strongly about his brother and family who are keeping him from his beloved:
“Edward Rider stared at his brother, speechless with rage and indignation. He could have rushed upon that listless figure, and startled the life half out of the nerveless slovenly frame. The state of mingled resentment, disappointment, and disgust he was in, made every particular of this aggravating scene tell more emphatically. To see that heavy vapour obscuring those walls which breathed of Nettie – to think of this one little centre of her life, which always hitherto had borne in some degree the impress of her womanly image, so polluted and vulgarised, overpowered the young man’s patience. Yet perhaps he of all men in the world had least right to interfere.”
There follows a couple of years of ups and downs before it is all worked out with a bit of melodrama. The characters are not particularly sympathetic. Nettie, is a heroine who seems determined to sacrifice herself and her role is all she is, as is evidenced when the role ceases:
“The work she had meant to do was over. Nettie’s occupation was gone. With the next act of the domestic drama she had nothing to do. For the first time in her life utterly vanquished, with silent promptitude she abdicated on the instant. She seemed unable to strike a blow for the leadership thus snatched from her hands.”
There are plenty of traditional tropes here and I found the whole rather unsatisfactory, particularly the ending where loose ends are tied up and everyone is happy. However I think it is the ending that those who love this appreciate. Maybe I am just perverse.
Read
September 5, 2021Another curious and disappointing reading experience. I just leave the book without rating.
It was almost a punishment to finish. While the characterisation was succinct, the book contains only in traces the Margaret Oliphant of "Miss Marjoribanks".
The 2 main characters were almost insufferable: Doctor Rider a capital, helpless, clueless ass and Nettie the champion of gratingly foolish self-sacrifice. And the constant circles Mrs Oliphant made me run around them again and again and again made the story almost suffocating and a relief when it finally came to an end.
It was almost a punishment to finish. While the characterisation was succinct, the book contains only in traces the Margaret Oliphant of "Miss Marjoribanks".
The 2 main characters were almost insufferable: Doctor Rider a capital, helpless, clueless ass and Nettie the champion of gratingly foolish self-sacrifice. And the constant circles Mrs Oliphant made me run around them again and again and again made the story almost suffocating and a relief when it finally came to an end.
March 20, 2017
Such an underrated Victorian author! If you enjoy Jane Austen and Elizabeth Gaskell - Margaret Oliphant is even more chill. Pretty much a Victorian Angela Thirkell.
September 10, 2017
A great read - I love Margaret Oliphant's writing style and I found the themes it explores, and complexities of duty, family and respectability here, fascinating. I'm thoroughly enjoying this series so far.
December 12, 2022
Secondo racconto della serie le Cronache di Carlingford.
Non ancora si arriva ad un punto di svolta nella storia o meglio seppur accadono dei fatti piuttosto sconvolgenti da scuotere la routine degli abitanti del villaggio, la sensazione che ho avuto è che essi non inficiano sull'andamento della narrazione che rimane piuttosto - anche troppo - lineare e piatta.
La scrittura di Margaret Oliphant si distingue però per il suo essere semplice ma al tempo stesso attenta ai particolari, quasi dipingesse uno di quei paesaggi realistici di metà Ottocento. Significativo direi, considerando che è un autrice oggi piuttosto sottovalutata.
Proseguirò con il terzo della serie.
Non ancora si arriva ad un punto di svolta nella storia o meglio seppur accadono dei fatti piuttosto sconvolgenti da scuotere la routine degli abitanti del villaggio, la sensazione che ho avuto è che essi non inficiano sull'andamento della narrazione che rimane piuttosto - anche troppo - lineare e piatta.
La scrittura di Margaret Oliphant si distingue però per il suo essere semplice ma al tempo stesso attenta ai particolari, quasi dipingesse uno di quei paesaggi realistici di metà Ottocento. Significativo direi, considerando che è un autrice oggi piuttosto sottovalutata.
Proseguirò con il terzo della serie.
November 8, 2020
#Victober2020
”One does not have much leisure for anything—not even for thinking, which is a comfort sometimes," added Nettie, confidentially, to herself.
"It depends upon what you think of, whether thinking is a comfort or not," said good Miss Wodehouse.
I’m so glad that I discovered Mrs. Oliphant this Victober. Her stories of ordinary people in an ordinary English village feel like comfort reads to me. Although I love Victorian melodrama, atmosphere, and tragedy, sometimes a calm tale of everyday life is just what I need.
To tell the truth, when one has been expecting something to happen, of whatever description, and has been preparing one's courage, one's temper, one's fortitude, in anticipatory rehearsals—when one has placed one's self in the attitude of a martyr, and prepared to meet with fiery trials—it is mortifying, to say the least, when one finds all the necessities of the case disappear, and the mildest calm replace that tragical anticipation: the quiet falls blank upon the excited fancy.
The free ebook is available at gutenberg.org and in the Kindle store.
”One does not have much leisure for anything—not even for thinking, which is a comfort sometimes," added Nettie, confidentially, to herself.
"It depends upon what you think of, whether thinking is a comfort or not," said good Miss Wodehouse.
I’m so glad that I discovered Mrs. Oliphant this Victober. Her stories of ordinary people in an ordinary English village feel like comfort reads to me. Although I love Victorian melodrama, atmosphere, and tragedy, sometimes a calm tale of everyday life is just what I need.
To tell the truth, when one has been expecting something to happen, of whatever description, and has been preparing one's courage, one's temper, one's fortitude, in anticipatory rehearsals—when one has placed one's self in the attitude of a martyr, and prepared to meet with fiery trials—it is mortifying, to say the least, when one finds all the necessities of the case disappear, and the mildest calm replace that tragical anticipation: the quiet falls blank upon the excited fancy.
The free ebook is available at gutenberg.org and in the Kindle store.
June 2, 2019
What an obnoxious little message this one carries.
The writing, also, was not as good as in Miss Marjoribanks, the only other Oliphant work I read: formulaic and weak.
The writing, also, was not as good as in Miss Marjoribanks, the only other Oliphant work I read: formulaic and weak.
April 24, 2018
Something between Jane Austen and Anthony Trollope, only not as good. This is the 3rd story in a series of 7; the first two are short stories, which is more suited to the author, I think. In a full-lenght work, her writing style became tiresome.
Κάτι μεταξύ Τζέιν Όστεν και Άντονι Τρόλλοπ, αλλά υποδεέστερο και από τα δύο. Οι δύο πρώτες ιστορίες της σειράς ήταν νουβέλες και διαβάζονται ευχάριστα, αλλά η γραφή της συγγραφέως για 200 σελίδες κουράζει.
Κάτι μεταξύ Τζέιν Όστεν και Άντονι Τρόλλοπ, αλλά υποδεέστερο και από τα δύο. Οι δύο πρώτες ιστορίες της σειράς ήταν νουβέλες και διαβάζονται ευχάριστα, αλλά η γραφή της συγγραφέως για 200 σελίδες κουράζει.
March 15, 2022
Very interesting stories pairing some things I expect from Victorian novels with topics that seem more unique. The village of Carlingford already feels alive after these few pages and I liked the perspectives from which the events are portrayed.
The two shorter stories have intruiging concepts but quite dissapointing endings that seem a bit disconnected from the core conflict, however the title novella follows through all the way, maybe getting a bit sentimental near the ending, but beeing very effective anyhow. Having the topic of caring for an addicted relative presented so frankly and as the focus of the story felt fresh for a Victorian novel and while I think Oliphant's writing style might not work for me in a very long book, in this short work it was both charming and evocative.
The two shorter stories have intruiging concepts but quite dissapointing endings that seem a bit disconnected from the core conflict, however the title novella follows through all the way, maybe getting a bit sentimental near the ending, but beeing very effective anyhow. Having the topic of caring for an addicted relative presented so frankly and as the focus of the story felt fresh for a Victorian novel and while I think Oliphant's writing style might not work for me in a very long book, in this short work it was both charming and evocative.
Read
September 17, 2025Loved Nettie as a character, but the doctor I found a bit annoying, and he wasn't very nice to horses. Still, a pleasure to read.
October 29, 2018
Such an interesting book. It was a solid 3.5-star read, but I rounded up, because Nettie Underwood is one of the most unusual female heroines I've ever read in Victorian literature. I enjoyed watching her make things happen. Also, the love story here is between two people I was basically rooting for, but am not entirely convinced I liked at all. In fact, I'm walking away from the story imagining what life must be like in that house every day!
Carlingford (so far) is no Cranford; (and, it almost goes without saying, Oliphant is no Gaskell). But the town and its inhabitants are entertaining enough that I believe I will eventually finish the series. My one gripe with this book is that 50% of the way through, Oliphant became suddenly and unnecessarily wordy for some reason. But it was definitely an interesting story giving me lots to think about.
One final thought: I am sincerely hoping Miss Wodehouse gets her own storyline one of these books.
January 20, 2019
A lovely story of a complex romance and also interesting for its portrayal of a woman giving up her life to care for others. The lack of any redeeming features for the people cared for was a bit frustrating.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 21, 2024
This is considered the second volume of Oliphant’s Chronicles of Carlingford and, unlike the final 4 volumes, is more novella than full-length novel. This is the tale of Dr. Rider, the secondary town doctor, with Dr. Marjoribanks as the primary one. Young Dr. Rider is recovering from the recent marriage of his never-approached heartthrob Bessie, as described in the Chronicles of Carlingford #.5, The Executor.
Dr. Rider is stuck sustaining life for his lazy brother Fred. Familial responsibility is a major theme of this book. When, to Dr. Rider’s surprise, Fred has a family who arrives from Australia, Dr. Rider helps them out. Aside from this help, Fred’s family is primarily sustained by the efforts of Fred's wife’s sister, Nettie. The main plot is about Rider’s wooing of Nettie, who refuses these advances due to what she perceives as her overriding obligation to sustain Fred, his wife and their three children.
I enjoyed the first half of this novella as the characters were interesting and Mrs. Oliphant is proficient at describing the town’s people and their activities in insightful ways. At that point, the book was between 3 and 4 stars. However, the story started dragging in the second half as Nettie’s stubborn, strong martyr character grew from admirable to irritating. Nettie’s sister’s whiny self-centered character, while never admirable, also grew quite tiresome. And I might as well add in the lead character, as Dr. Rider’s consistent stubbornness grew tiresome too.
While I did enjoy the story, I was glad it was only novella length. I rate it as 3 stars.
Dr. Rider is stuck sustaining life for his lazy brother Fred. Familial responsibility is a major theme of this book. When, to Dr. Rider’s surprise, Fred has a family who arrives from Australia, Dr. Rider helps them out. Aside from this help, Fred’s family is primarily sustained by the efforts of Fred's wife’s sister, Nettie. The main plot is about Rider’s wooing of Nettie, who refuses these advances due to what she perceives as her overriding obligation to sustain Fred, his wife and their three children.
I enjoyed the first half of this novella as the characters were interesting and Mrs. Oliphant is proficient at describing the town’s people and their activities in insightful ways. At that point, the book was between 3 and 4 stars. However, the story started dragging in the second half as Nettie’s stubborn, strong martyr character grew from admirable to irritating. Nettie’s sister’s whiny self-centered character, while never admirable, also grew quite tiresome. And I might as well add in the lead character, as Dr. Rider’s consistent stubbornness grew tiresome too.
While I did enjoy the story, I was glad it was only novella length. I rate it as 3 stars.
August 6, 2016
I really enjoyed these stories (2 short stories and a novella) and debated a 4 or 5. It's not really fair to compare, but I just rated Bleak House a 5 and needed to make some distinction. Although Oliphant is not as popular today, I agree that she can be favorably compared with George Eliot and Jane Austen.
The book revolves around Dr. Rider and his challenging relationships with his brother, Fred, sister-in-law, Susan, and Susan's sister Nettie. Although the end of the story was predictable, the way it came about, and some events along the way, surprised me.
I switched to this version of The Doctor's Family (Chronicles of Carlingford #2) because it also includes in the description the short story "The Executor", which in my opinion is important to read before the novella. "The Executor" introduces the character of Bessie Christian, who is mentioned a number of times in the novella and explains part of the doctor's thought process on his relationship with Nettie.
Other residents of Carlingford have been introduced and I look forward to learning more about their stories as I continue the series. If you like 19th century literature, especially Eliot and Austen, I recommend this.
The book revolves around Dr. Rider and his challenging relationships with his brother, Fred, sister-in-law, Susan, and Susan's sister Nettie. Although the end of the story was predictable, the way it came about, and some events along the way, surprised me.
I switched to this version of The Doctor's Family (Chronicles of Carlingford #2) because it also includes in the description the short story "The Executor", which in my opinion is important to read before the novella. "The Executor" introduces the character of Bessie Christian, who is mentioned a number of times in the novella and explains part of the doctor's thought process on his relationship with Nettie.
Other residents of Carlingford have been introduced and I look forward to learning more about their stories as I continue the series. If you like 19th century literature, especially Eliot and Austen, I recommend this.
November 26, 2017
The true gem in this collection is The Doctor's Family. If you are new to Margaret Oliphant, start with this delightful short novel.
FYI there are seven, not six, stories and novels in the series Chronicles of Carlingford. This dark red paperback book "The Doctor's Family and Other Stories" is the only print version which contains the very first story in the Chronicles of Carlingford. On goodreads the second story is incorrectly being called the first (and so on). This book was edited by Merryn Williams (1986) and can sometimes be found used on bookfinder.com. The three stories in this book are:
#1 The Executor
#2 The Rector
#3 The Doctor's Family
If you are unable to find this paperback, the stories are available for free download from www.oliphantfiction.com.
FYI there are seven, not six, stories and novels in the series Chronicles of Carlingford. This dark red paperback book "The Doctor's Family and Other Stories" is the only print version which contains the very first story in the Chronicles of Carlingford. On goodreads the second story is incorrectly being called the first (and so on). This book was edited by Merryn Williams (1986) and can sometimes be found used on bookfinder.com. The three stories in this book are:
#1 The Executor
#2 The Rector
#3 The Doctor's Family
If you are unable to find this paperback, the stories are available for free download from www.oliphantfiction.com.
November 2, 2020
The story of The Doctor's Family is a short novel(1) in this volume, which also contains two other fairly brief accounts of The Executor and The Rector. They're all components in Margaret Oliphant's Carlingford series, which I suppose might be a sort of saga, though not in a consecutive way, because (as in this one volume) intertwined relationships are played out from different points of view; though the author's canny, Presbyterian viewpoint seems to remain the same. Oliphant, in these stories at least, is neither a satirist, a moralist, nor a romantic. I would classify her as a realist that tends to see the comic/ironic side of life, rather than dwell on its tragedies. Though she does dwell, drawing out her action somewhat, and I think betraying the writer-for-money she reputedly was for most of her life. But the realism is heartfelt, especially when compared to some of her contemporaries I've read. Without the send-up of lawyers, doctors and priests, or the violin accompaniment to poverty and bereavement that you get with other writers, here there are portraits of real middle-class struggles in mid-Victorian times. True, with a Dickens you can often smell the food and drink, see the tumult of roads and gatherings, and hear the different voices of police and thieves. But with Oliphant - to a background of New Town optimism - there's self-delusion, then the cold draft of disappointment, followed by anger or frustration and – in two out of the three tales here – a rather narrow triumph. Plus there's no authorial, auto-backslapping on the final pages. I'd like to try one of her full length novels and see if the fried porridge viewpoint really pans out. If it does, Oliphant should be more read, despite the plethora of her lesser opus.
(1) I'm not classing The Doctor's Family as a novella, though if were titled “Nettie's Turn” or some such epithet I might have.
(1) I'm not classing The Doctor's Family as a novella, though if were titled “Nettie's Turn” or some such epithet I might have.
October 9, 2020
I didn't know anything about Margaret Oliphant when I started reading this novel, except that she wrote long enough ago that you can find her works for Kindle free on Amazon or Gutenberg.org. I know a little more about her now. She had a difficult life, but like Nettie in this book, she seemed to just get on with it. Three of her six children died in infancy and her husband died young also, leaving her to support her family through her writing. She was popular in her day, even though her name faded, unlike Dickens and Trollope, who wrote around the same time.
The dialogue isn't as sharp and witty as Jane Austen, but I like that Nettie is a strong female character, something you don't always find in the classics (though Susan is an irritatingly weak character!)
This being a 19th century novel, you will find long paragraphs and passages of descriptions and thought processes of the characters, so this isn't a book to read while watching TV or otherwise dividing your attention. At least I couldn't. Back then there was no TV of course, so authors provided every detail so as to fire up the reader's imagination and place them deep in the story.
There are only a few plot twists in this book, so I will not give any of them away. I had an idea what was going to happen, but I write novels myself and probably thought about possible plot development more than some readers. It was a pleasant read overall and I recommend it if you enjoy major and minor classic fiction.
This book is apparently the second one in the series and I read it first, but I don't expect that to detract from my enjoyment of reading the rest of the series. And speaking of which, now I need to go back and read that first book!
The dialogue isn't as sharp and witty as Jane Austen, but I like that Nettie is a strong female character, something you don't always find in the classics (though Susan is an irritatingly weak character!)
This being a 19th century novel, you will find long paragraphs and passages of descriptions and thought processes of the characters, so this isn't a book to read while watching TV or otherwise dividing your attention. At least I couldn't. Back then there was no TV of course, so authors provided every detail so as to fire up the reader's imagination and place them deep in the story.
There are only a few plot twists in this book, so I will not give any of them away. I had an idea what was going to happen, but I write novels myself and probably thought about possible plot development more than some readers. It was a pleasant read overall and I recommend it if you enjoy major and minor classic fiction.
This book is apparently the second one in the series and I read it first, but I don't expect that to detract from my enjoyment of reading the rest of the series. And speaking of which, now I need to go back and read that first book!
November 3, 2023
This could rather easily have become a 4 star book for me, as I love this period, and even if Mrs. Oliphant isn't in the first rank of Victorian novelists, she's still pretty up there and can turn out some quality sentences.
However: none of the characters were particularly engaging—the love affairs, such as it is, hardly rivals Elizabeth and Darcy—but it's not clear if I'm supposed to root for them, or despise them a bit, so I did both. The main female character in particular seems like an early iteration of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and she's just as annoying as you'd expect a Victorian instance of that to be. The doctor seems about one whisky away from committing sexual assault at any moment. I liked little Freddie, so I was happy that he was happy, I was quite worried about him near the end, but that's about it.
Mostly I just wanted the characters to make different choices and kept waiting for them to do that. I mean, how hard is it to say "I promised to support you financially since you're useless, but I'm not paying for your pipe tobacco, so if you want to smoke, go get a job, you big slug." Not that hard, really.
For future self: Ash, this was the one with the Doctor's useless brother's unexpected Australian family appearing on his doorstep.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
However: none of the characters were particularly engaging—the love affairs, such as it is, hardly rivals Elizabeth and Darcy—but it's not clear if I'm supposed to root for them, or despise them a bit, so I did both. The main female character in particular seems like an early iteration of the Manic Pixie Dream Girl, and she's just as annoying as you'd expect a Victorian instance of that to be. The doctor seems about one whisky away from committing sexual assault at any moment. I liked little Freddie, so I was happy that he was happy, I was quite worried about him near the end, but that's about it.
Mostly I just wanted the characters to make different choices and kept waiting for them to do that. I mean, how hard is it to say "I promised to support you financially since you're useless, but I'm not paying for your pipe tobacco, so if you want to smoke, go get a job, you big slug." Not that hard, really.
For future self: Ash, this was the one with the Doctor's useless brother's unexpected Australian family appearing on his doorstep.
(Note: I'm a writer, so I suffer when I offer fewer than five stars. But these aren't ratings of quality, they're a subjective account of how much I liked the book: 5* = an unalloyed pleasure from start to finish, 4* = enjoyed it, 3* = readable but not thrilling, 2* = disappointing, and 1* = hated it.)
November 22, 2016
But what did one come into the world for, I should like to know? Does anybody suppose it was just to be comfortable, and have one's own way? I have had my own way a great deal--more than most people. If I get crossed in some things, I have to bear it. That is all I am going to say. I have got other things to do, Miss Wodehouse. I shall never marry anybody in all my life.
"Dauntless" Nettie! Now here's an interesting character study. Her devotion to familial duty is jarringly counter-cultural to most modern Western ears, yet I suspect that Oliphant hoped her readers would want to give Nettie a vigorous shaking by the end. There is definitely something selfishly willful mixed up in it all, but I haven't figured her out yet.
I didn't like the Doctor. In fact, no one comes out smelling like a rose in this book.
However, if a line like this gets a laugh -- "Handsome young coxcomb, with all his Puseyitical pretences!" -- you might still find this, and the rest of the Carlingford books, worth your time. I'm certainly planning to finish the series, if I can track them down.
October 10, 2018
I made myself finish this for my Victober reading goals. In spite of Nettie's self-sacrificing ways, she never becomes a heroine you can love. Her love interest is even less interesting.
Oliphant is outshone by her Victorian contemporaries in many areas. She lacks Trollope's insights into human nature, Gaskell's winsomeness or Dickens' sly wit. (Just to name a few.) This is the third novel I've read by this author and probably the last.
Oliphant is outshone by her Victorian contemporaries in many areas. She lacks Trollope's insights into human nature, Gaskell's winsomeness or Dickens' sly wit. (Just to name a few.) This is the third novel I've read by this author and probably the last.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2022
Dr Edward Rider thought his life was bad enough housing his idle brother Fred, but then Fred's wife Susan, their three children, and Susan's sister Nettie arrive from Australia. People that Edward did not known existed. How will his life be altered by their arrival.
An entertaining Victorian story, a re-read.
An entertaining Victorian story, a re-read.
September 26, 2017
Delightful story, I am really enjoying the Chronicles of Carlingford and love that the character's story arcs overlap through the books.
November 15, 2017
A lovely little novella that is a quick, untaxing read. Predictable in the extreme but full of wonderfully realised characters.
January 23, 2022
Okay, I have to admit I was greatly annoyed with Nettie. And didn't feel much love for the doctor either. I suspect they deserve one another.
May 21, 2025
I wanted to shake Susan most of the time. Nettie needed to stand up for herself.
The narrator was very good.
The narrator was very good.
August 24, 2025
The reason I enjoy Victorian writers so much is that they write as if they were writing for their own pleasure, with no thought of their readership, or interest in their tastes and preferences; they write as if there were no tomorrow. Of course this is not correct; nearly everyone who made a living by writing lived in straitened circumstances. And yet, the feeling of space, of time and of pleasurable idleness, is what strikes you as you read a book by Elizabeth Gaskell or Margaret Oliphant.
‘The Doctor's Family,’ continuing the Carlingford series is, at first glance, a tale about laziness, selfishness and familial ingratitude, a study in character rather than plot. Dr Edward Rider is the eponymous Doctor, who made a cameo appearance in ‘The Executor,’ the first short story set in the fictitious rural town of Carlingford. There, the role assigned to him was an ignoble one; in ‘Family,’ he redeems himself to some degree, but not without first exposing more disagreeable qualities in him - temper, impatience, intolerance for people with weaker wills than himself and, one might add, a hospitality that is a grudging, resentful hospitality, until he falls utterly in love with a self reliant and very independent young woman, and the trials he has to go through before Nettie Underwood can be wooed and won.
The other principals are his brother Fred Rider, himself once a successful doctor, and now an alcoholic, with an alcoholic’s fecklessness. He had run away from his family in Australia, and now lives on sufferance with his younger brother. Although at the start of this book, the lazy Fred tries to effect a reconciliation with Dr Rider, and the two brothers exchange a deal of confidences, at no point does Fred reveal the fact of his deserted wife and three children, all of whom are maintained by his sister-in-law Nettie, his wife's younger sister.
Totally without warning, Nettie Underwood arrives at his lodgings the morning after the confidences with a querulous woman in tow, and the promise of three children in the wings, all waiting for a welcome as if by right. Since both women are absolute strangers to him, Dr Rider is unable to understand their air of aggressive expectation. Then the truth comes out: when Fred deserted his wife and children and returned to England, the resourceful Nettie packed herself and her sister Susan Rider and Susan’s children on board a ship, and sailed to England in search of her brother-in-law, after several months of waiting in vain for news from him.
Although Fred and Susan Rider bitterly resent Nettie’s take-charge and autocratic, if kindly ways, they cannot do without her and her annual income of two hundred pounds, which serves to maintain them after Dr Rider has unequivocally informed them that they cannot all of them live with him in his lodgings. While Fred Rider lolls at his ease and smokes and reads trash, his wife sits by him and, on the rare occasions Nettie goes to take tea with the Wodehouses, surreptitiously supplies him with liquor. It is Nettie who handles the tradespeople and the landlady, takes care of the household, does the sewing and manages the children, Nettie who supports and slaves for them with goodwill and determination, taking on all their responsibilities and duties with tireless cheerfulness.
She rejects all offers of help from a remorseful Dr Rider, and finally rejects his profession of love and his proposal.
We also meet several people with their own narratives in the Chronicles: Frank Wenkworth, the perpetual curate of St Roque's, the Anglican Church, the two Misses Wodehouse, Mary and Lucy, and even a glimpse of Bessie Christian, the girl whom Edward Rider had jilted in ‘The Executor,’ and Mr Brown, the solicitor who married her.
It is perhaps open to question if Nettie, instead of slaving for her sister's family, had instead left them to fend for themselves. Would Fred Rider then have been forced to work and maintain his family? Would Susan rouse herself from her sloth and indifference to rear her children herself? Perhaps. But then, there would have been no delightful story!
‘The Doctor's Family,’ continuing the Carlingford series is, at first glance, a tale about laziness, selfishness and familial ingratitude, a study in character rather than plot. Dr Edward Rider is the eponymous Doctor, who made a cameo appearance in ‘The Executor,’ the first short story set in the fictitious rural town of Carlingford. There, the role assigned to him was an ignoble one; in ‘Family,’ he redeems himself to some degree, but not without first exposing more disagreeable qualities in him - temper, impatience, intolerance for people with weaker wills than himself and, one might add, a hospitality that is a grudging, resentful hospitality, until he falls utterly in love with a self reliant and very independent young woman, and the trials he has to go through before Nettie Underwood can be wooed and won.
The other principals are his brother Fred Rider, himself once a successful doctor, and now an alcoholic, with an alcoholic’s fecklessness. He had run away from his family in Australia, and now lives on sufferance with his younger brother. Although at the start of this book, the lazy Fred tries to effect a reconciliation with Dr Rider, and the two brothers exchange a deal of confidences, at no point does Fred reveal the fact of his deserted wife and three children, all of whom are maintained by his sister-in-law Nettie, his wife's younger sister.
Totally without warning, Nettie Underwood arrives at his lodgings the morning after the confidences with a querulous woman in tow, and the promise of three children in the wings, all waiting for a welcome as if by right. Since both women are absolute strangers to him, Dr Rider is unable to understand their air of aggressive expectation. Then the truth comes out: when Fred deserted his wife and children and returned to England, the resourceful Nettie packed herself and her sister Susan Rider and Susan’s children on board a ship, and sailed to England in search of her brother-in-law, after several months of waiting in vain for news from him.
Although Fred and Susan Rider bitterly resent Nettie’s take-charge and autocratic, if kindly ways, they cannot do without her and her annual income of two hundred pounds, which serves to maintain them after Dr Rider has unequivocally informed them that they cannot all of them live with him in his lodgings. While Fred Rider lolls at his ease and smokes and reads trash, his wife sits by him and, on the rare occasions Nettie goes to take tea with the Wodehouses, surreptitiously supplies him with liquor. It is Nettie who handles the tradespeople and the landlady, takes care of the household, does the sewing and manages the children, Nettie who supports and slaves for them with goodwill and determination, taking on all their responsibilities and duties with tireless cheerfulness.
She rejects all offers of help from a remorseful Dr Rider, and finally rejects his profession of love and his proposal.
We also meet several people with their own narratives in the Chronicles: Frank Wenkworth, the perpetual curate of St Roque's, the Anglican Church, the two Misses Wodehouse, Mary and Lucy, and even a glimpse of Bessie Christian, the girl whom Edward Rider had jilted in ‘The Executor,’ and Mr Brown, the solicitor who married her.
It is perhaps open to question if Nettie, instead of slaving for her sister's family, had instead left them to fend for themselves. Would Fred Rider then have been forced to work and maintain his family? Would Susan rouse herself from her sloth and indifference to rear her children herself? Perhaps. But then, there would have been no delightful story!
July 31, 2020
"Do you think I am to be turned against my own flesh and blood by finding out their follies; or to grumble at the place God put me in?—Nothing of the sort! I know the kind of situation perfectly—but one may make the best of it, you know."
The Doctor's Family is a charming story about Dr. Rider of Carlingford and his relationship with his alcoholic brother. One day, a women and three children comes from Australia and tells Dr. Rider that they are his family-in-law. With them they have brought Nettie who takes care of both the alcoholic brother, his silly wife, and unruly children. Dr. Rider quickly falls in love with the very capable Nettie, but it is impossible for them to be together as she will never leave her sister and the children.
Mrs. Oliphant writes this family drama and love story very well. I really felt for the characters; I got frustrated with the Doctor as he could not marry Nettie; I got sad and tired as Nettie took on all the burdens in the world with no one to help her. The alcoholic brother and his wife were the most irritating characters ever, and I think that Nettie is the best person ever. We should all strive to be more like her. She just got on with it; there was no one else to help them, and she would never abandon her family, so she worked and never felt sorry for herself. Truly the best!
However, the novel did have some pacing issues. It is already quite short, but it got very repetitive reading Nettie and Dr. Rider professing their love but insisting that it was impossible for them to be together. That did get quite tiring after awhile. Other than that a very nice installment in the series.
My other reviews of the Chronicles of Carlingford series:
Salem Chapel (#3)
The Perpetual Curate (#4)
Miss Marjoribanks (#5)
Phoebe Junior (#6)
The Doctor's Family is a charming story about Dr. Rider of Carlingford and his relationship with his alcoholic brother. One day, a women and three children comes from Australia and tells Dr. Rider that they are his family-in-law. With them they have brought Nettie who takes care of both the alcoholic brother, his silly wife, and unruly children. Dr. Rider quickly falls in love with the very capable Nettie, but it is impossible for them to be together as she will never leave her sister and the children.
Mrs. Oliphant writes this family drama and love story very well. I really felt for the characters; I got frustrated with the Doctor as he could not marry Nettie; I got sad and tired as Nettie took on all the burdens in the world with no one to help her. The alcoholic brother and his wife were the most irritating characters ever, and I think that Nettie is the best person ever. We should all strive to be more like her. She just got on with it; there was no one else to help them, and she would never abandon her family, so she worked and never felt sorry for herself. Truly the best!
However, the novel did have some pacing issues. It is already quite short, but it got very repetitive reading Nettie and Dr. Rider professing their love but insisting that it was impossible for them to be together. That did get quite tiring after awhile. Other than that a very nice installment in the series.
My other reviews of the Chronicles of Carlingford series:
Salem Chapel (#3)
The Perpetual Curate (#4)
Miss Marjoribanks (#5)
Phoebe Junior (#6)
April 10, 2011
A collection of 3 short stories set in Victorian England--a study of a small, rural community. The central story is good, but becomes tiresome with the heroine's self sacrificing. Still, a happy ending.
September 11, 2014
One of those stories by Mrs Oliphant that leave you exhausted after all the shared suffering and expectation on the part of the main love story.
September 23, 2015
Mostly a romance but a wholesome one. Probably best enjoyed by girls/women.
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