Lesser Trollope

I chose this book because of his brilliant Barchester Towers, but found it disappointing. In fact, I was hard put to finish it, finding it unredeemably wordy, the story of little interest, except that it reflected English country life as lived by landed gentry at that time. The theme is money, property, and the rigid class divisions which existed. The characters were well drawn in the usual Trollopian fashion, especially those of the star-crossed lovers, but oh dear, the priggish, goody-goody little heroine, the illegitimate Miss Mary Thorne, who spent her time with eyes downcast, trembling lip and flushed cheeks, struggling to control her emotions … well, she had me wishing she would tear off her clothes and do a streak across the village green. That said, one can’t help admiring the chatty, friendly way Trollope engages with his readers, discussing his characters as if they were real people. At one point he says ‘I can’t tell you what happened to the so-and-so’s, but I can tell you what happened to Mr. S.’
At first I was put off by the reader’s American accent, but it turned out to be eminently suited to the genre.

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