Hester (Summarized Edition)
Enriched edition. Victorian realism of credit, rumor, and gendered power in a provincial bank: loyalty, work, and women's authorityBy Mrs. Oliphant
Length5h 7m
About this audiobook
Hester is a novel of Victorian life, set in a provincial banking town where character is measured, like credit, by bonds of trust. At its center stands Catherine Vernon, the formidable matriarch who once saved the family bank, and her brilliant young kinswoman, Hester, whose intelligence and moral ardor chafe at the limits of gratitude and dependence. Oliphant's poised omniscience, edged with irony and ethical seriousness, anatomizes drawing rooms and countinghouses alike, mapping a web of rumor, reputation, and risk that culminates in a searching trial of loyalty, work, and women's authority. Mrs. Oliphant—Margaret Oliphant Wilson Oliphant—was a prolific Scottish novelist and critic who supported an extended family by her pen and wrote for decades for Blackwood's Magazine. Her life of precarious professionalism, bereavement, and close observation of middle-class institutions informs Hester's preoccupations with responsibility, prudence, and the possibility of female stewardship outside marriage. Readers who prize the moral intelligence of George Eliot and the social-comic acuity of Trollope will find in Hester a bracing companion: a study of gendered power, finance, and feeling that still speaks to modern economies of care and credit. It is ideal for courses on Victorian realism and for any reader seeking unsentimental depth.
Quickie Classics summarizes timeless works with precision, preserving the author's voice and keeping the prose clear, fast, and readable—distilled, never diluted. Enriched Edition extras: Introduction · Synopsis · Historical Context · Brief Analysis · 4 Reflection Q&As · Editorial Footnotes.
Audiobook details
GenreLiterary Classics, General Fiction
Length5 hrs 7 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateJan 10, 2026
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
5Hester (pt. 1)
2Introduction
6Hester (pt. 2)
3Synopsis
7Analysis
4Historical Context
8Reflection
Who Was Lost and Is FoundMrs. Oliphant10h 45m$1 · $0.00
MadamMrs. Oliphant18h 14m$2 · $0.00
The Ladies LindoresMrs. Oliphant22h 55m$2 · $0.00
The Curate in ChargeMrs. Oliphant7h 56m$1 · $0.00
A Country Gentleman and His FamilyMrs. Oliphant16h 5m$2 · $0.00
The Story of a GovernessMrs. Oliphant15h 29m$2 · $0.00
The Heir Presumptive and the Heir ApparentMrs. Oliphant15h 48m$2 · $0.00
The Doctor's FamilyMrs. Oliphant$2 · $0.00
The Makers of Modern Rome, in Four BooksMrs. Oliphant18h 13m$1 · $0.00
A Son of the SoilMrs. Oliphant19h 59m$2 · $0.00
The RectorMrs. Oliphant0m$2 · $0.00
The Cuckoo in the NestMrs. Oliphant16h 36m$1 · $0.00
The Ladies LindoresMrs. Oliphant22h 55m$2 · $0.00
At His GatesMrs. Oliphant20h 22m$1 · $0.00
Memoirs and resolutions of Adam Graeme of MossgrayMrs. Oliphant9h 48m$2 · $0.00
Phoebe, JuniorMrs. Oliphant14h 58m$1 · $0.00
The Open Door, and the PortraitMrs. Oliphant$2 · $0.00
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