A STORY OF CONTEMPORARY LIFE
Amongst Oliphant’s most admired works, Hester was first published in 1883. It centres on two women – Catherine Vernon, who takes over the running of Vernon’s Bank after her cousin John absconds with some of the bank’s money; and Hester, John’s daughter, who returns to Redborough with her mother, years after her father’s crime.
The novel is a highly unusual one for the time, placing at its centre a powerful, influential woman, enjoying a flourishing career as a financier. Yet this would have been a topical theme at the end of the nineteenth century, as more and more women began to seek a life beyond marriage and the domestic sphere. In the conflict between Hester and her aunt, the novel also explores the generational antagonisms that can arise between the young and the old.