Part of Series
In the town of Carlingford John Brown had been Mrs Thompson's attorney, though he had not been employed to write her will. Upon her death, her will leaves her property to an estranged daughter, unknown in Carlingford. To everyone's astonishment, if the daughter is not found within three years, the property is left to John Brown. Mrs Thompson's nearest relatives in Carlingford, the very poor Christian family, are not mentioned at all. This story depicts the impact of Mrs Thompson's will on several people, including John Brown, Mr and Mrs Christian, Bessie Christian, and her undeclared suitor Dr Rider. Finally John Brown does something which surprises even himself. The Executor is the first of seven works set in the delightful country town of Carlingford. Although each work can stand alone, one episode in this story does explain the beginning of the third work, The Doctor's Family.
Author
Margaret 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.
