Susan Ferrier

Her mother died in 1797, and Susan took over her role in the household. She never married. Apart from four years living with her sister in London (1800-04) she remained with her father at their home in Canaan Lane, Morningside (he died in 1829). She was a close friend of Sir Walter Scott, whom she first met in 1811, and who described her in the manner of the time as "simple, full of humour, and exceedingly ready at repartee, and all this without the least affectation of the bluestocking".

She was also friendly with the poet and linguist John Leyden, and her brother married John Wilson's sister Margaret. The philosopher J. F. Ferrier, author of "Introduction to the Philosophy of Consciousness" (1838-9), was their son.

Her three novels (the first two published anonymously by William Blackwood) enjoyed great popularity. For the third, she received £1700 from the publisher Cadell. They are often compared to the works of Jane Austen (the opening of "The Inheritance" echoes that of "Pride and Prejudice"), but some critics regard Ferrier as more satirist than ironist; closer in spirit to Tobias Smollett. Her didacticism is akin to that of her contemporary Mary Brunton. In later life she became converted to the Free Church, and this led her to give up writing. Her eyesight failed, and she retired to live quietly until her death on 5 November 1854. She is buried in St Cuthbert's Churchyard, Edinburgh. Biographies have been written by A. Grant (1957) and W. M. Parker (1965). AC

The Marriage (1818); Inheritance (1824); Destiny (1831).

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