George MacDonald

The Marquis of Lossie George MacDonald

This is the sequel to "Malcolm" (published in 1875). In it, fisherman and estate groom Malcolm MacPhail has (after the deathbed confession of his father), inherited the title of Marquis of Lossie. However, from love for his sister Florimel, whom he must now displace, he delays making his new position known in order to break it to her gently - even though his delay allows an unjust administrator to oppress many tenants who he should be protecting, and forces him to endure increasingly bad treatment from people who believe themselves to be his social superiors. His shallow, immature sister is among the people who become more arrogant and less just as the story goes on. This makes it very hard for the reader to remain engaged with the premise that Malcom's reasons for allowing his tenants to suffer to spare his sister's pride are compelling and reasonable. As the story goes along, things get worse and worse