novelist who made an incisive exposé of the pretensions of Scottish society in the early 19th century.

The daughter of James Ferrier, who was principal clerk of the Court of Session and a colleague of Sir Walter Scott, she was in touch with Edinburgh intellectual circles from her early years. Scott greatly admired her writing and in his Tales of My Landlord (1816–19) called her his sister shadow. Ferrier's three anonymously published novels are distinguished by their vigour and sardonic wit. They are: Marriage (1818); The Inheritance (1824), often considered her best work; and Destiny; or, The Chief's Daughter (1831).