Marjorie Oliphant, the Scottish writer whose portrayals of provincial life have been compared to George Eliot and Anthony Trollope, published nearly 100 novels including the famous Miss Marjoribanks. Her fictional works encompass domestic realism, the historical novel and tales of the supernatural. 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.