author
Agnes Maule Machar
1837–1927
A prolific Canadian writer and reformer, she used fiction, poetry, biography, and essays to explore education, faith, citizenship, and social justice. Her work helped shape Victorian Canada's literary and public life, sometimes under the pen name Fidelis.
3 Audiobooks
Lucy Raymond; Or, The Children's Watchword
by Agnes Maule Machar
Roland Graeme: Knight. A Novel of Our Time
by Agnes Maule Machar
Down the River to the Sea
by Agnes Maule Machar
About the author
Born in Kingston, Upper Canada, Agnes Maule Machar grew up in an intellectually active Presbyterian household and went on to become one of Victorian Canada's notable literary voices. She wrote novels, poetry, essays, biography, and history, publishing both under her own name and the pen name Fidelis.
Machar's writing was closely tied to her public ideals. She was known for engaging with questions of education, religion, labour, temperance, women's place in society, and wider social reform, bringing a strong moral and civic seriousness to her work. Rather than separating literature from public life, she treated books and essays as a way to encourage debate and conscience.
She remained closely associated with Kingston throughout her long life and was later recognized as an important Canadian cultural and historical figure. Today she is remembered not only for the range of her writing, but also for the way she linked literature with reform-minded citizenship.