'Mark Rutherford'is the pseudonym of William Hale White(1831-1913),who worked briefly for the WESTMINSTER REVIEW,where he met George Eliot,before becoming a civil servant.He continued to supplement his income with parliamentary and literaryjournalism,and incorporated his political and social concerns in fiction such asthe ground-breaking,proto-feminist novel CLARA HOPGOOD.In CLARA HOPGOOD the education and 'modern' notions of two sisters oblige them to confront society's preconceived ideas about morality,and to forge for themselves a place in a community initially unreceptive to the way in which the girls choose to live their lives.