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Heart and Cross
Margaret Oliphant's 1863 novel, the last in the Clare Crofton series.
142 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1863
About the author
Mrs. Oliphant
1,419 books182 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 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 17, 2026
This charming romance is set in the English countryside during 1857, the year of the Indian Mutiny. The narrator, Clare Crofton, is vividly engaged in the lives of the families round about, particularly that of Alice Harley, … and there are developments … entertaining …
June 27, 2019
Heart and Cross (1863) is the last in a trilogy of Oliphant novels whose narrator is an only child and heiress, orphaned in her late twenties, named Clare Nugent. The books tell her story, together with those of various friends and relatives, over a period of about ten years. The other two are Orphans, a Chapter in Life (1857) and Lucy Crofton (1859). (Hat tip to Joan Richardson of www.Oliphantfiction.com for clarifying that these are in fact a series. Until I found this site I knew of only one Oliphant series, the wonderful Carlingford novels. There are actually quite a few. Since Oliphant wrote 97 novels as well as many stories, a comprehensive overview such as Richardson provides is extremely helpful.)
In Heart and Cross, Clare regards herself as "old" (being about 37 when the novel opens!). Having told the most eventful parts of her own story in the first two books, she now focuses on other, younger characters, including several who were her protégés in the previous novels. Unfortunately, Heart and Cross is the weakest link in the series because of this detachment. Though the narrator has a vested interest in two of the characters' falling in love, both are described at a considerable remove for different reasons, and suspense falls short.
Unlike the Carlingford novels, the Clare Nugent books have no identified setting, real or fictional. They take place somewhere in rural England, mostly within the narrator's homes or properties. Shops, farmers, tenants, servants are largely invisible. This lack of an exterior "world," together with the first-person narration, is somewhat constricting. Oliphant created many worlds in her novels. But here her focus is on a particular feminine viewpoint -- that of a woman who feels herself essentially alone yet who endeavors to uphold the social rules and roles of Victorian ladyhood. I couldn't help thinking of Jane Eyre, another orphan writing in the first person (Charlotte Brontë's novel was published in 1847, a decade before the first Clare Nugent book). Clare is the anti-Jane. It's not just that she is rich where Jane is poor. She is self-controlled where Jane is wild and passionate. Her own feelings, opinions, and struggles are subjected to her sense of Christian and family duty. She assumes the task of scrupulously, unsentimentally observing the lives around her (including her own), almost, it feels, as an escape from the effort of participation. Happily her emotions, tart observations, and unconventional undertakings do sometimes push through the wall of duty, and these times are when we like her best. As much as I love Oliphant, Clare does not stand up well to a comparison with Jane Eyre (but then what character can?).
On the other hand, there are many passages in these novels where I almost wondered whether Oliphant was writing fiction at all. I felt she revealed her philosophy of life, her own colossal struggles and how she dealt with them, more than in any other of her books. In short, I found myself taking Clare's voice as Oliphant's own.
There is one aspect of Heart and Cross that is quite significant. It sheds light on a recurring problem in Oliphant's fiction: her racial attitudes. They appear only in passing, but the brief occasional disparaging or dismissive references to "blacks" and even "niggers" (IIRC the word is used in Miss Marjoribanks) -- which I gradually realized usually refer to East Indians rather than American slaves -- are shocking to encounter and, alas, reflect poorly on Oliphant's otherwise noble character. Heart and Cross reflects a crisis in the British Empire. In Oliphant's fiction, sons of good but impoverished families are typically dispatched to India to make their fortunes if they can. But in Heart and Cross, they are sent to fight for their lives and to save the colonists from a terrifying Indian rebellion. The novel provides only glimpses of this background, but there are oblique references to the rape and murder of English women and children, and the harrowing effect this had on the English back home--clearly on Oliphant herself. I hazard that this rebellion was a formative experience for Oliphant and shaped her views not only of Indians but of American slavery. (In Kirsteen, 1889, Oliphant refers to "supposed cruelties and horrors" and "exaggerations" that took place only in "the Abolitionist imagination.") I'm not trying to excuse her, but I was glad to gain some insight into this disturbing flaw at last.
In sum: don't make Heart and Cross, or any of the Clare trilogy, your first (or last) Oliphant books. They are far from her best work. But if you are already an Oliphant reader, the series is worth your while. By all means read it in order.
In Heart and Cross, Clare regards herself as "old" (being about 37 when the novel opens!). Having told the most eventful parts of her own story in the first two books, she now focuses on other, younger characters, including several who were her protégés in the previous novels. Unfortunately, Heart and Cross is the weakest link in the series because of this detachment. Though the narrator has a vested interest in two of the characters' falling in love, both are described at a considerable remove for different reasons, and suspense falls short.
Unlike the Carlingford novels, the Clare Nugent books have no identified setting, real or fictional. They take place somewhere in rural England, mostly within the narrator's homes or properties. Shops, farmers, tenants, servants are largely invisible. This lack of an exterior "world," together with the first-person narration, is somewhat constricting. Oliphant created many worlds in her novels. But here her focus is on a particular feminine viewpoint -- that of a woman who feels herself essentially alone yet who endeavors to uphold the social rules and roles of Victorian ladyhood. I couldn't help thinking of Jane Eyre, another orphan writing in the first person (Charlotte Brontë's novel was published in 1847, a decade before the first Clare Nugent book). Clare is the anti-Jane. It's not just that she is rich where Jane is poor. She is self-controlled where Jane is wild and passionate. Her own feelings, opinions, and struggles are subjected to her sense of Christian and family duty. She assumes the task of scrupulously, unsentimentally observing the lives around her (including her own), almost, it feels, as an escape from the effort of participation. Happily her emotions, tart observations, and unconventional undertakings do sometimes push through the wall of duty, and these times are when we like her best. As much as I love Oliphant, Clare does not stand up well to a comparison with Jane Eyre (but then what character can?).
On the other hand, there are many passages in these novels where I almost wondered whether Oliphant was writing fiction at all. I felt she revealed her philosophy of life, her own colossal struggles and how she dealt with them, more than in any other of her books. In short, I found myself taking Clare's voice as Oliphant's own.
There is one aspect of Heart and Cross that is quite significant. It sheds light on a recurring problem in Oliphant's fiction: her racial attitudes. They appear only in passing, but the brief occasional disparaging or dismissive references to "blacks" and even "niggers" (IIRC the word is used in Miss Marjoribanks) -- which I gradually realized usually refer to East Indians rather than American slaves -- are shocking to encounter and, alas, reflect poorly on Oliphant's otherwise noble character. Heart and Cross reflects a crisis in the British Empire. In Oliphant's fiction, sons of good but impoverished families are typically dispatched to India to make their fortunes if they can. But in Heart and Cross, they are sent to fight for their lives and to save the colonists from a terrifying Indian rebellion. The novel provides only glimpses of this background, but there are oblique references to the rape and murder of English women and children, and the harrowing effect this had on the English back home--clearly on Oliphant herself. I hazard that this rebellion was a formative experience for Oliphant and shaped her views not only of Indians but of American slavery. (In Kirsteen, 1889, Oliphant refers to "supposed cruelties and horrors" and "exaggerations" that took place only in "the Abolitionist imagination.") I'm not trying to excuse her, but I was glad to gain some insight into this disturbing flaw at last.
In sum: don't make Heart and Cross, or any of the Clare trilogy, your first (or last) Oliphant books. They are far from her best work. But if you are already an Oliphant reader, the series is worth your while. By all means read it in order.
November 26, 2017
This last book in the series moves slower than the first two novels, but is worth reading for readers who are fond of the main character Clare.
Available for free download at www.oliphantfiction.com.
Available for free download at www.oliphantfiction.com.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews