Sir Harry Hotspur’s only son and heir dies young which means that the title goes to a cousin, George Hotspur. Sir Harry wants the ancestral property to go to his daughter, Emily, and hopes that a future husband will adopt the family name. George is a charmer but also a spendthrift and a gambler. He sets out to win Emily in order to save himself from bankruptcy – and succeeds, despite Emily knowing he is really unworthy. She is convinced she can save him but has also promised she will not marry without her father’s consent – which of course Sir Harry refuses to give. The book follows their story. (Summary by Simon Evers)     [chương_files]  

Marion Fay (1882) offers a pair of romances, each involving a match between one titled personage and one commoner. The misalliances lead to the typical strains between parental desires and romantic wishes of the young. The novel’s primary characters have such noble dispositions that Trollope was impelled to create several far more interesting minor characters who either threaten mayhem or provide amusing diversions. (summary by Arnold Banner)     [chương_files]  

Indefer Jones struggles to name an heir to his estate. Will he choose his favorite niece, Isabel, or a male heir? The story turns on the trouble that arises when Indefer fails to tell anyone his final decision before passing away. ( Summary by Jean Bascom )     [chương_files]  

In the small English Town of Plumplington the daughter of a brewer and that of a banker each has selected her future husband contrary to the wishes of her father. Both young men are regarded as not ‘good enough’, though each is, in fact, much like the respective father when at that age. The girls, with the support of various townspeople, endeavor to get their way. One refuses to wear the nice clothes her father so much admires her in, while the other takes to her bed and refuses to eat. The fathers, of course, give in, and ultimately agree to the happy ending. (Arnold Banner)     [chương_files]  

This is the story of the Macdermots of Ballycloran the story is about the tragic demise of a landowning family. Larry Macdermot lives in a dilapidated mansion in Co. Leitrim, whose mortgage to Joe Flannelly he cannot keep up. Enmity between the Macdermot and Flannelly families is sharpened by son Thady’s having declined to marry Joe Flannelly’s daughter, Sally. Macdermot’s daughter, Feemy, is herself seduced by the locally hated English police officer, Captain Myles Ussher. This was Trollope’s first published novel, which he began in September 1843 and completed by June 1845. However, it was not published until 1847. (Summary by Michele Eaton)     [chương_files]  

As usual, Trollope creates a nice variety of characters of different English classes, sentiments and positions. The primary themes are the inheritance of property, extravagance or reason in the spending of assets, the mating of young people, and the electoral practices of the time. The election chapters are based on Trollope’s own experiences when he ran for Parliament. There are, of course, many subplots which allow Trollope to express, through dialog, his opinions about greed, snobbery, work ethics and dandyism. Trollope probably regretted the duplicative naming of his characters after a while; we have two Gregory Newtons, uncle (and present Squire of Newton) and one of his nephews. Then there are several Ralphs: the (deceased) father, Ralph his son (the heir), and Ralph (not the heir) the son of the uncle Gregory! As they appear, Trollope has to interject “not the heir”, or “the other Ralph”. Ralph the heir is an extravagant, easy living young man who has spent himself into debt, and is faced with having to either sell his right to the family property, or marrying a wealthy tradesman’s (a breeches maker cutely named Mr. Neefit) daughter. Four young women are major characters, and these are sought by the two Ralphs, young Gregory, and a bootmaker, Ontario Moggs (don’t you love the names?). These include the fairly sedate daughters of the family lawyer, a ravishing West Indian beauty come to live with them, and the tradesman’s daughter. There are the classic novel “misunderstandings” from errors in communication; while […]

Romance and crime in the mid-19th century British Civil Service. In this early novel,Trollope draws on his own experiences as a junior clerk in the General Post Office to provide an entertaining and moving account of how ambition within the service can affect friendship and love. (Summary by Anthony Ogus)     [chương_files]  

The Small House at Allington concerns the widowed Mrs.Dale, her daughters Isabella (“Bell”) and Lilian (“Lily”), who live in the “Small House”, and their suitors. The bachelor Squire of Allington (Christopher Dale), who lives in the Great House, has allocated the Small House, rent free, to his widowed sister-in-law and her daughters. This is the fifth of the six Chronicles of Barsetshire. As with all of Trollope’s novels, this one also contains many sub-plots and numerous minor characters. Plantagenet Palliiser, of Trollope’s Palliiser series of novels makes his first appearance, as he contemplates a dalliance with Griselda Grantly, the now-married Lady Dumbello, daughter of the Archdeacon introduced earlier in the Chronicles of Barsetshire. Another key sub-plot involves the goings-on at protagonist John Eames’ London boarding house where the landlady’s worldly and attractive daughter (Miss Amelia Roper) attempts to ensnare Eames into a socially downwardly-mobile marriage, and where Eames’ fellow boarder and co-worker gets drawn into a love triangle with the wife of an unhappily married theatrical couple. In these London scenes at the clerks’ office and the Roper boarding house, we see Dickensian echoes. As with so many of Trollope’s novels, here Trollope explores issues of emotional and generational power struggles, adultery, temptation, jilting lovers, marriage proposal refusals, and the consequences of indecision. Trollope’s scene of the bull attack placed mid-way through the novel is a tour-de-force moment not to be missed by any reader interested in the art of the Victorian novel. (Edited by N K Whitley from the […]