Erminda Rentoul Esler (1852? – 1924) was an Irish novelist who wrote romances and fiction expressing

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

moral values. She was well known in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for her novels and short stories, and was published in the Cornhill Magazine.

Biography

She was born in

Manorcunningham Manorcunningham, or Manor (, meaning "the manor of Fort Cownyngham") is a small village and townland in County Donegal, Ireland. It is located 7 kilometers from Letterkenny on the main road to Derry. It is known locally and throughout Donegal as ...

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ga, Contae Dhún na nGall) is a county of Ireland in the province of Ulster and in the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the town of Donegal in the south of the county. It has also been known as County Tyrconne ...

, daughter of the Reverend Alexander Rentoul, and had seven brothers and sisters. Before going to the

Queen's University of Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

she received some of her education in

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,5 ...

and Berlin. After marrying doctor and science writer Robert Esler she lived in Belfast and London. Her novels have rural settings in Ireland or England. ''The Wardlaws'' (1896), the story of an Irish landowning family whose financial troubles raise moral questions about how to live one's life, is considered one of her best works.''Scotsman'' Other fiction includes ''The Way of Transgressors'' (1890), ''The Way they loved at Grimpat'' (1894), '' 'Mid Green Pastures'' (1895), ''Youth at the Prow'' (1898), ''Awakening of Helena Thorpe'' (1901), and ''The Trackless Way'' (1904), a particularly religious book, subtitled "The story of a man's quest for God." She published as E. Rentoul Esler.

References

Sources

*''Oxford Companion to Edwardian Fiction 1900-14: New Voices in the Age of Uncertainty'', ed. Kemp, Mitchell, Trotter (OUP 1997) *Review of ''The Wardlaws'' in ''The Scotsman'' 18 May 1896
Robert S Rantoul, ''A History of the Name and Family of Rentoul-Rintoul-Rantoul'' (Salem 1885)

External links

England 1901 census
{{DEFAULTSORT:Esler, Erminda Rentoul 1852 births 1924 deaths People from County Donegal Irish novelists Irish women novelists