Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

So, you think you've read everything Trollope has to offer...
...I know I did.After being set onto Phineas Finn a year or two ago, I have been unable to stop a frantic Trollope binge-reading.I thought, however, that I had (unfortunately) read everything Trollope had written, but stumbled across this one.

It is absolutely wonderful.I'm not sure anyone does love triangles as well as Trollope, and The Claverings offers one of his best yet (Harry, Julia, and Florence).Trollope sets it up such that the reader isn't quite sure where Harry's heart should lie in the end (I, for one, wanted Trollope to pull a Phineas Redux and have Harry end up with "Madame Max."But he doesn't, for many good reasons, none of which will make you feel that it couldn't have ended up well with...well, I won't give away the story.)

Needless to say, The Claverings is more than a love story, in classic Trollope fashion.At its most profound, it's a difficult soul-searching of what matters most in life, and how best to get there.And, unlike many of Trollope's other works, he doesn't leave a clear safety net under his characters - you really aren't sure things are going to work out, after all.

I would heartily recommend this to anyone who is either an old Trollope pro or someone wanting to get a taste of Trollope for the first time.Perhaps you, like me, will find the world of Trollope to be rich and worthy of a year or two of your free time.

A Male, Victorian Version of Austen's Emma
If you enjoy seeing good, but fundamentally human and weak, characters involve themselves in rather funny, socially embarrassing positions, this is a great novel for you.I'm too feminist to rate this novel a five-Trollope's accurate portrayal of the vulnerable position of women in Victorian society unsettled me.There is no powerful, outrageous woman figure like Mrs. Proudie of "Barchester Towers"-Mrs. Proudie does get a one-line mention in the novel, however!There are some wonderful minor characters here-Archie, Sophie, and Boodles are wickedly fun.If you are a Trollope addict not yet familiar with this novel, I'd say this is a sort of happy "Small House at Allington."If you are familiar with Rousseau, you will recognize the main character Julie is Trollope's variation on "Julie ou La Nouvelle Heloise" sans the premarital or adulterous sex.If all this is mumbo-jumbo to you, the book is a wonderful depiction of Victorian life featuring a love triangle.

A MUST FOR TROLLOPE FANS
IF YOU ARE A FAN OF ANTHONY TROLLOPE, DO NOT OVERLOOK "THE CLAVERINGS".

"THE CLAVERINGS" MAIN PLOT CONCERNS A YOUNG WOMAN WHO GIVES UP THE MAN SHE LOVES - AND WHO LOVES HER - TO MARRY AN OLD, VERY RICH, UPPER CLASS GENTLEMAN. THE MARRIAGE IS A MISERABLE FAILURE, BUT LUCKILY THE OLD GENTLEMAN DIES, LEAVING ALL OF HIS FORTUNE AND PROPERTY TO HIS YOUNG WIFE. IN THIS MARRIAGE, THE WIFE'S REPUTATION IS ALSO SULLIED BY RUMORS THAT SHE IS HAVING AN AFFAIR WITH ANOTHER MAN.

WHEN THE YOUNG WOMAN FINDS HERSELF A WEALTHY WIDOW, SHE DISCOVERS THAT SHE IS UNABLE TO ENJOY HER WEALTH AND TITLE DUE TO THE SLANDEROUS RUMORS THAT BESMIRCH HER CHARACTER. HER WEALTH BRINGS HER NO JOY AS SHE IS ALONE AND SOCIALLY RUINED. SHE THUS BEGINS A CAMPAIGN TO WIN BACK HER FIRST LOVE WHOM SHE WISHES TO SHOWER WITH HER RICHES.PERHAPS THEN SHE WILL FIND HAPPINESS AND RESTORE HER TARNISHED REPUTATION.

IN THE MEANTIME, HER YOUNG MAN WHO TRULY LOVED HER HAS BECOME ENGAGED TO ANOTHER FAR LESS HANDSOME AND QUITE POOR WOMAN.

THE MAIN ACTION OF THE BOOK REVOLVES AROUND THE RELATIONSHIP THAT DEVELOPS BETWEEN THE ENGAGED YOUNG MAN WHO CANNOT TELL HIS PAST LOVE THAT HE IS NOW ENGAGED, AND THE NEWLY WIDOWED WOMEN WHO IS UNAWARE OF HIS ENGAGEMENT AND ATTEMPTING TO WIN HIM BACK.

AS IN ALL OF TROLLOPE'S BOOKS, THERE ARE MANY SIDE PLOTS THAT ARE EQUALLY AS PSYCHOLOGICALLY INTERESTING.

ANTHONY TROLLOP DELVES INTO THE PSYCHOLOGY OF ALL HIS CHARACTERS. IT IS NOT AN 'ACTION' BOOK BUT A STUDY OF LOVE AND GREED AND THEIR CONSEQUENCES.

I IMMENSELY ENJOYED THIS BOOK.

The Usual Trollope the Great
Since its first appearance in 1867, this novel has been acclaimed as one of Trollope's most successful portrayals of mid-Victorian life. A novel ofconflicting choices in love, often accounted one of Trollope's best, but Istill prefer the wicked THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
During the first two months of the year 1844, the greatest possible excitement existed in Dublin respecting the State Trials, in which Mr O'Connell, his son, the Editors of three different repeal newspapers, Tom Steele, the Rev. Mr Tierney a priest who had taken a somewhat prominent part in the Repeal Movement and Mr Ray, the Secretary to the Repeal Association, were indicted for conspiracy. Those who only read of the proceedings in papers, which gave them as a mere portion of the news of the day, or learned what was going on in Dublin by chance conversation, can have no idea of the absorbing interest which the whole affair created in Ireland, but more especially in the metropolis. ... Read more

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Lily Dale is sublimely happy when she becomes engaged to Adolphus Crosbie, assistant secretary in a government agency. Lily is the niece of Squire Dale, an embittered old bachelor fixedly stuck in the "Great House" at Allington. Crosbie spends a weekend away from Lily, and becomes attracted to Lady Alexandrina De Courcy, Who is from a noble Family. He asks for her hand in marriage, jilting he former love, Lily. John Eames, a young government clerk, has loved Lily Dale for years. He tries to get Lily to notice him after she gets jilted, but she still loves Crosbie, and maintains her love for him despite his treachery. Crosbie, however, soon finds that his noble bride brings no money into the marriage, but continues to spend it as though she had. His "noble" marriage is a debacle from start to finish. All Lily's friends urge her toward Eames, but Lily stubbornly clings to her hopeless love. Please Note:This book has been reformatted to be easy to read in true text, not scanned images that can sometimes be difficult to decipher.The Microsoft eBook has a contents page linked to the chapter headings for easy navigation. The Adobe eBook has bookmarks at chapter headings and is printable up to two full copies per year.Both versions are text searchable. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Money, money, money
Money was terribly important to Anthony Trollope who never quit his day job at the British Post Office but laboured industriously both at his novels and at his career in the British civil service.

A typical Victorian civil servant in London worked from 10 to 4 for a little over a hundred pounds a year, wages with which a gentleman could pursue a comfortable life occupying a room in the city while dining at clubs, but wages at which he might not marry and raise a family without abandoning this high life. Having both required a much higher revenue, say a thousand a year. A family required a house not rooms, a carriage, not cabs, a housemaid for the wife not chores for the housewife. And there you know all you need to know of Adolphus Crowley, the man who jilts the novel's heroine, Lily Dale, when he learns she comes with no dowry.

A hundred pounds a year also amounted to the wages of Doctor Crofts, a young country doctor with only poor patients. He feels it's not quite enough to allow him to pursue Bell, Lily's older sister. It was also the fantastic sum promised the wards of Hiram's Hospital in the earlier Barsetshire novel, the Warden. Johnny Eames, Lily Dale's other suitor, also belongs to the civil service but at somewhat under a hundred a year and lives in a boarding house in rather unpleasant company.

And yet, money can't be everything. Lily Dale lives rent free with Bell and their widowed mother Mary in the small house of the title, while her bachelor uncle, the Squire of Allington whose land brings in some four thousand pounds a year, lives in the larger house. But when the childless uncle hints that their living there gives him some fatherly authority, the women refuse to recognize this and move out. On principle. We easily recognize Trollope in this careful working out of what actions are right and wrong, of how higher principles translate into practical everyday decisions.

Trollope does paint his characters with more contrast here than in his other Barsetshire novels, making his villain a little more villainous than Sowerby in Framley Parsonage and his heroine Lily Dale purer than Mary Thorne in Doctor Thorne. But I can't say I liked Lily very much. I certainly sympathized with her plight and admired her fortitude, but I think Trollope idealized her too much and turned fortitude to stubborness. Fortunately, other characters make up for a priggish Lily.

Since Trollope is Trollope, we end up sympathizing a little with the villain as he finds no solace in the woman for whom he left Lily. Uncle Christopher Dale relents somewhat in his position and acknowledges he loves his nieces, regardless of whatever duty he might or might not owe them. Johnny Eames, apparently more a more than slightly autobiographical character, grows up achieving something resembling manhood.

And we meet Plantagenet Palliser, the hero of Trollope's other great series, the Palliser novels, who appears scandalously often with the young Lady Dumbello. What will we make of that, now?

Vincent Poirier, Dublin

The Small Houseat Allington shows Trollope at the pinnacle of his game!
The Small House at Allington (1864) is a nearly 800 page Victorian three decker novel by Anthony Trollope (1815-1882. The former postal employee wrote 47 novels and is one of Britain's greatest authors. The Small House at Allington is the favorite novel of former Conservative Prime Minister John Major. You don't have to be a politician or pundit to enjoy this excellent book.
Lily Dale lives in the Small House with her mother and sisters. She becomes engaged to the London playboy/cad Adolphus Crosbie. The office clerk John Eames is also in love with Lily. When Crosbie jilts Lily to wed Lady Alexandrine De Courcy a rich ninny the plot thickens. Will John win Lily or will she remain true to Crosbie her first love depsite the impossiblity of ever marrying him?
Trollope is very good in his realistic dialogue and situations. We see the British middle and upper classes at home, the club, in London and in the country. We encounter two major love triangles and see how these romances work themselves out in the class conscious world of high Victorian society. Unusual for Trollope is no mention of a fox hunt!
The novel is very long and was published serially in the Cornhill magazine over a number of months. I found it and Barchester Towers to be the most interesting of the Barsetshire novels set in and around the mythical town of Barset.
Trollope lacks the broad and comic vision of Dickens; the intelligent psychological insight of George Eliot and the satirical verve of Thackery but is still a novelist of the highest caliber. Read him and enjoy hours of reading pleasure.

It's a good book
I liked this book, not as much as some of the others in the series, but it has its distinguishing points.As other reviewers note, the characters are well drawn and believable.I most of all enjoyed the squire and the earl.The squire especially struck me as a sort of realistic Ebenezer Scrooge with the sharp edges much removed.I liked his sister Lady Julia.Crosbie is an interesting semi-cad. The descriptions of the hum-drum of the clerks' lifes in the City were revealing as well, and reminds one that Dilbert has his Victorian counterparts.The introduction to Plantagenet Palliser is finely done.

Best book in the 6 comprising the Barsetshire series
Beautiful book. Though it's the 5th book in the series, any newcomers to Trollope could profitably start here to get the flavor of the series.

Not my favorite.
I've read at least 14 or 15 of Trollope's novels, including all of the Palliser books and all of the Barchester books, and this one is probably tied with Barchester Towers as my least favorite of the ones I have read.But it is my belief that Trollope, like Austen, is better on a bad day than most authors are at their best, so "Small House" is still eminently readable.But it is still not my favorite.

As per usual, the characters are well written and believable. The writing is superb. My only problem is with the choices Lily makes.On one hand, while I admire Lily's refusal to marry someone she does not love, I have very little use for martyrs, and Lily seems to revel in her martyrdom.

The book may not have been originally a part of the Barchester books, but since many of the characters appear in the last book of the series, The Last Chronicle of Barset, it does help to have read all 6 in the series if you want to be completely "up" with what is going on. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Among the different houses in the country at which he had become intimate was that of the Countess of Desmond. The Countess of Desmond did not receive much company at Desmond Court. She had not the means, nor perhaps the will, to fill the huge old house with parties of her Irish neighbours--for she herself was English to the backbone. Ladies of course made morning calls, and gentlemen too, occasionally; but society at Desmond Court was for some years pretty much confined to this cold formal mode of visiting. Owen Fitzgerald, however, did obtain admittance into the precincts of the Desmond barracks. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Trollope is Trollope
I have spent the last 30 years collecting Trollope and trying to find his less popular works.He is my favourite author from his time, and that includes Dickens who, for all his virtues, I find maudling.This book is one of those one cannot put down, well plotted although it has all the usual Trollope landmarks - so the question is, how is it one can continue reading book after book of this author, never get tired and always be surprised?

Castle User-Unfriendly
This cheaply-produced edition is repellent to the eye and absurdly awkward to hold or manage. I returned it because of size and format.

TROLLOPE FANS - DON'T OVERLOOK THIS ONE!
I RATE THIS A 5 STAR BOOK. AS USUAL, TROLLOPE WRITES SO WELL AND HOLDS YOUR ATTENTION FROM BEGINNING TO END.

THIS IS THE TALE OF 2 MEN IN LOVE WITH THE SAME WOMAN. THE FORTUNES OF THESE 2 MEN CONSTANTLY SHIFT THROUGHOUT THE STORY DUE TO A FAMILY INHERITANCE QUESTION -WHICH FORMS THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF THE BOOK. AND AS THEIR FORTUNES CHANGE, THE MOTHER OF THE WOMAN WHOM BOTH LOVE, CONTINUES TO INTEFEREAND ATTEMPT TO SELL HER DAUGHTER'S HEART TO THE RICHEST BIDDER.

I'VE READ A LOT OF TROLLOPE, AND I WOULD RATE THIS ONE OF HIS FINEST. THE ONLY PART OF THE BOOK THAT I FOUND NOT THAT INTERESTING, WAS THE HISTORY PERTAINING TO THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE.NEVERTHELESS, IF YOU LIKE TROLLOPE, DO READ THIS ONE!

Trollope's Romance in Ireland
I would like to start this review by emphatically agreeing with the otherreviewers of Trollope's fiction who say that this is an author that shouldbe immediately re-discovered.Here is a man who created characters that wecould not forget if we wanted.We see all sides of his creations, the goodand the bad, and there are times when you might even feel empathy for thevillians.How many authors can accomplish that?

Castle Richmond isTrollope's romance in Ireland set against the backdrop of the Great Famine. You might wonder if the famine sequences get in the way of the main plot. I certainly thought so myself until I read a brilliantly written chaptertwo-thirds of the way through the book in which one of the heroes of thestory encounters a starving mother and her children.In five paragraphsthe book takes on a whole new prespective.Suddenly our hero (andourselves) become aware that happiness is a relative thing, not somethingthat should be dictated by those we love and how much are in our purses. What an enlightening concept!Anyone who thinks that Trollope is out-datedneed only focus on what he is saying in Castle Richmond to see what a trulymodern thinker he really was.

Castle Richmond's main plot is a look attwo upper class families: the Desmonds and the Fitzgeralds.We follow themthrough their lives, watching as love is gained and love is lost.We get acomplete glimpse into the morals of these people; people who really feelthey are doing right no matter who is hurt.I was amazed that themelancholy scenes were almost better written then the happy ones.Andthere are very few writers of that age and ours that write better dialoguethan he.

I hope readers who have read Trollope's more popular works willtake the time to read this novel.Trollope obviously loved Irelandimmensely, and he need not apologize for setting his story in that country. The land, the people, the circumstances are completely displayed for us toenjoy.It is a comfort to walk in his world, through the path between theelms, through the hilly countryside.I thought more then once that I wouldgo there like a shot if it was offered to me.And that, I believe, is thetrue magic of Trollope's work. ... Read more

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This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
Phineas, on the other hand, made two or three great speeches every evening, and astonished even Mr Ruddles by his oratory. He had accepted Mr Ruddles's proposition with but lukewarm acquiescence, but in the handling of the matter he became zealous, fiery, and enthusiastic. He explained to his hearers with gracious acknowledgment that Church endowments had undoubtedly been most beneficent in past times. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Phineas Finn the intriguing Irish MP returns to London in a fine sequel to :Phineas Finn
As the novel Phineas Finn ends the Irish member leaves Parliament for marriage with a beautiful Irish lass. As Phineas Redux begins Mr.Finn is widowed and has returned to resume his career in the British Parliament.
This novel is one of Trollope's works in the Parliamentary series featuring such old favorites as Planty Pall and his wife the Duchess Glencora. Finn returns to find Laura Kennedy eager to win his favor after her mad husband Robert Kennedy casts her out of house and home. Kennedy is enflamed by jealousy of Finn (he courted her when she was Laura Standish). Along the way Kennedy attempts to murder Phineas. Phineas is himself tried for the murder of his politcal rival in the Liberal ranks the odious Mr. Bonteen who has been elevated to President of the Board of Trade.
We also meet the sexy, dark and beautiful continental belle Madame Max
who loves Finn helping him in his time of trouble with the law. She lives after almost 140 years in the vibrant pages she graces with her beauty, wit and tact.
The novel devotes several chapters to Trollope's love of fox hunting which to this reviewer is abhorrent as a blood sport. Some American readers will be confused, bored and bewildered by the machinations afoot in the House of Commons.
A good subplot concerns the triangle existing between Gerald Maule and
the farmer Spooner over the hand of Adelaide Palliser. Meanwhile, Gerald's wastrel father seeks the hand of Madame Max.
Trollope doesn't have the genius of Dickens; the intellect of Eliot or the imagination of the Brontes but he did produce good stories of realistc
characters. This novel is a good way to spend a few nights with a wonderful novelist of the Victorian age.

A Darker Phineas Finn
In PHINEAS FINN, Anthony Trollope wrote about a happy-go-lucky young Irish Member of Parliament who romances the ladies and achieves a minor ministerial rank in the Liberal government. A dispute with his party regarding the Irish question, however, results in his leaving politics and returning to Ireland.

PHINEAS REDUX brings Phineas back, but the slogging is now harder. The vicious infighting between Daubeny (Disraeli) and Gresham (Gladstone) has soured Phineas somewhat. He is repeatedly slandered by a yellow journalist named Quintus Slide; and many in his party, including some of his friends, believe that the Irishman is carrying on an adulterous affair with Lady Laura Kennedy. At one point, the aggrieved husband takes a pot shot at Phineas, but misses. Matters turn still darker when J. Bonteen, a political rival to Phineas, is murdered one night in the street shortly after a quarrel with Phineas at the Universe Club.

The major set piece of PHINEAS REDUX is the trial of Phineas Finn for the murder of Bonteen. Opinion is evenly split on the question of his guilt and the issue seems to be in doubt until Mme Max Goesler, whose love Finn had rejected in the earlier volume, conducts her own investigation and produces evidence that turns the tide and results in a resounding acquittal.

If Trollope were a lesser author, everything at this point would be all sweetness and light. Here, however, Phineas suffers what appears to be a nervous breakdown and contemplates pulling out of politics altogether. What Trollope presents us with is an updated version of the Book of Job, with the difference that Phineas averts his face from his new good fortune and concentrates on his losses. His good friends rally round the young M.P. and slowly wean him from his depression.

The pot of gold at the end of this dark rainbow is Mme Max. Phineas proposes to the wealthy young widow and is accepted.

Spinning his wheels
Trollope supposedly wrote this book in response to public disappointment at the ending of _Phineas Finn_. I can't imagine why; it seemed to me that the former novel's ending was quite brilliant, really, and Phineas himself was always rather a cipher. In both novels, he seems to represent little more than a conduit for the influence of womanly wiles (as Trollope conceived of them) upon the political process.

So what we get here is Trollope's _Merry Wives of Windsor_. The plot trundles along through a minutely reported debate between Liberals and Conservatives upon the disestablishment of the church, followed by a very run-of-the-mill murder trial that pales in comparison to just about any one of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories. One gets the sense that Trollope is marking time, here.

Nonetheless, there are some wonderful character sketches sandwiched inbetween the long passages of reportage, and it's a fairly quick read. The Palliser completist should approach it with only mild apprehensiveness, not outright dread.

Five Stars On Any Other Scale
How can one criticise a delicious chocolate in one's favourite box?Sheer enjoyment though by no means a perfect novel.The Bonteen murder thing does not survive re-readings.Madame Max never comes to life and as such one cannot envision Phineas's married life with her, though one is pleased that he ends the novel wealthy!The Phineas in this novel is a weaker depiction than the hero of "Phineas Finn" and this is not aconsequence of the author's deliberate attempt to depict a more mature and jaded Phineas - Trollope presumes we should know him.What works in "Phineas Redux" are the tiny details which provide bulletins of the maturing marriage between Glencora and the Duke, virtually all of the contributing characters, and the world of Victorian politics; in this novel we are not quite so subject to the slavish accounts of parliamentary 'to'ings and 'fro'ings as we were in the first Phineas novel.And whilst we miss the energy of the wonderful "Eustace Diamonds" sandwiched between the two, we are grateful that Lizzie and her revolting husband reappear to be reviled and admired on cue.Trollope's depiction of Lizzie shows why he is an incredible novelist, and how, despite himself, he thought wildly outside the Victorian sphere of morality.He loves her as one would love a creature or specimen held within one's control, pinned to a butterfly board or caged in a zoo.He loves her animalism.And then he is dragged back down to Victorian ignorance by the anti-semitism rampant in his depiction of the reverned Emilius.Unfortunate, but it was of its time and few can escape their time - Dickens certainly could not.One closes this novel feeling they have partaken of the politics and society of Victorian Britain.One has brushed coats with the Duke of St Bungay, compassionated the fall of Lady Laura, and shared the warmth of the Chiltern drawing room.It's not Trollope's best work, but it would make stunning television were it to be remade with the modernity required by current audiences, and it carries the reader on to Trollope's next novels, with full assurance that he is one of the greatest pleasure givers of all time.

Good sequel to "Phineas Finn."
The Pallisers carry on in this rambling Victorian novel.Phineas Finn's wife dies, and he again enters politics.He picks up with the various women in his life.Violet Effingham is now happily married.Laura Standish is married, but estranged from her husband.Marie Goesler is the eternal enigma.Love and money again wreaks havoc with Phineas's life.Trollope mesmerizes the reader with polished prose that adds a touch of elegance.Style prevails over substance in his novels.British politics are bewildering, but Victorian manners and morals are the real story.The mating dance that unfolds in drawing rooms and country weekends is amusing.Subplots abound.The novel has more drama than usual.Phineas is accused of murder.Trollope manages unexpected tenderness in his depiction of Laura Kennedy.She longs for Phineas, who once was her lover.Fearing scandal, she suffers a lonely life, and regrets what might have been.Lady Glencora and Plantagenet Palliser play a role in the book.They are now the Duke and Duchess of Omnium.Consequently, a new dilemma confronts Plantagenet.Lady Glencora is the tireless meddler, regardless.Marie Goesler is ever more important in Phineas's life.Trollope's work is lightweight, but refreshing.This book is good down time reading to escape the clamor and fast pace of modern life.;-) ... Read more

Product Description
The discovery of the irregularity in the marriage of the newly hired assistant headmaster and matron at Dr. Wortle's school and the ensuing scandal test the character of all involved.Six 90-minute cassettes. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Dr. Wortle's School is a minor masterpiece by the prolific Anthony Trollope
"Dr. Wortle's School" was a serial novel published in the May through
December 1880 issues of "Blackwood's Magazine" The short novel runs to just over 200 pages. The elderly Trollope wrote it in just over two weeks.
The story concerns a moral dilemma. It is set in Dr. Wortle's preparatory school for boys eager to get into Oxford or Cambridge. An assistant teacher arrives in the school. The Rev. Mr. Peacocke and his lovely American "wife" are well liked in the small school. Dr. Wortle is a big and friendly man much like Trollope was himself.
The Rev. Peacocke was teaching in St. Louis when he befriended a woman whose husband was reportedly killed in San Francisco. The couple wed only to have the supposed dead husband show up! They were, therefore, involved in a bigamous situation. When this was revealed,Mr. Peacocke left for America to discover what had happened. Mrs. Peacocke was befriended and allowed to stay at the Wortle school.
The incident was initiated when the shabby Robert Lefoy the brother of the dead husband Ferdinand arrived in the Wortle school. He and Mr. Peacocke traveled to America where the grave of Ferdinand was discovered. Learning this important fact the Peacockes were married in London by Dr.
Wortle. All ended happily for the couple.
In a slight secondary plot the love between Mary Wortle the good doctor's daughter and the wealthy Lord Carstairs is examined. Despite the class differences the couple are in love with their union being approved by their respective parents.
Scandal is always around the corner with the repugnant gossip the odious Mrs. Staniloup. She accuses Dr. Wortle of befriending the socially unacceptable Peacock couple and seeks to broadcast the news in the town and the newspapers.
Trollope is best known for his Barsetshire and Palliser novels which are huge Victorian three deckers. This slight work is a good place to begin your study of a great novelist and chronicler of the clergy and law professions in nineteenth century England.

Really good read
Trollope gets in his digs at Victorian hypocrisy in more of a forthright manner than his lengthier novels. Both Dr. Wortle and Mr. Peacocke stick to their guns in not getting in a tizzy over the "technicality" of the bigamous marriage, until the situation can be properly sorted out. I wasn't as wild about the romantic sub-plot as others, finding it a distracting method of filling out the book.

A moral dilemma
This novel, one of Anthony Trollope's shortest, deals with a scandal that arises when the bigamous marriage of school teacher Mr. Peacock and his supposed wife is uncovered. In the moral climate of Victorian England, the repercussions of that discovery spread swiftly and severely. The fallout not only harms the Peacocks, but schoolmaster Dr. Wortle and the reputation of his school. The story dwells less upon the secret bigamous marriage itself than upon the the moral dilemma resulting from it: whether something that seems on the surface to be immoral is in truth not really a sin.Dr. Wortle, rather than the Peacocks, is the central character of the story. It is through his fair and compassionate eyes that the reader ponders whether the relationship between Mr. Peacock and his "wife" was really less sinful than any other choice available to the couple. His views are contrasted to those of the Church and to the society as a whole.

Trollope introduces a note of levity to the story with a side plot concerning the love between Dr. Wortle's daughter Mary and young Lord Carstairs, a student at the school. Trollope also takes some interesting potshots at America, particularly the lawlessness and licentiousness of the American West. A good introduction and footnotes to the novel provide background information on Trollope's ideas and personal life, and how they are reflected in the story. If you are hesitant to try a novel by Trollope, this would be a good one to start with.

A Trollope Treat
Dr. Wortle's School is basically the story of two couples in love and howtheir affections disrupt the tranquil setting of the school.The main plotrevolves around Dr. Wortle's "usher" or school assistant, Mr.Peacocke and his wife.A scandal from their past threatens theirhappiness.The second, very minor, plot is the love story between Dr.Wortle's daughter, Mary and the good-natured Lord Carstairs.

The joy ofthe novel is watching Dr. Wortle deal with these crises.Will he stand byMr. Peacocke in his time of need?Will he allow his daughter to becomeengaged to the very young Lord Carstairs?The answers to these questionsand the reactions of the other characters are handled in the typicalTrollope fashion, with compassion and common sense.Sprinkle the wholething with deft strokes of humor and you have what is Dr. Wortle'sSchool.

As I mentioned in my review of Castle Richmond, I am amazed whata modern thinker Trollope was.His reputation as a"old-fashioned" author is entirely undeserved.In a day and age(late 1870s)when actions and image were everything, where a hint of scandalcould ruin a person, it must have seemed radical to stress that personsshould be judged as much on their "nature" or character asanything else.This is one of those general notions that could be appliedjust as well in 2000 as in 1878.

You might wonder, given what I havealready said, why I give Dr. Wortle's School four stars.When you comparethem to his towering Last Chronicle of Barset, Orley Farm and The Way WeLive Now, it seems a slight injustice to those five star books to give allthe others five stars.Dr. Wortle's School is very readable certainly, butit does not quite obtain the status of "masterpiece" that theseother novels can claim.As always, Trollop's humor, dialogue, andcharacterizations make this an enjoyable novel that can be recommeded toanyone.

A well-balanced portrait of compassion and forgiveness
In 'Dr. Wortle's School' Anthony Trollope takes on a very controversialand scandalous subject, that of a bigamous marriage.With a very even handTrollope allows us to see into the motivations of his characters and trulycome to understand why they've done the things they've done, and how theyjustify their actions.Instead of preaching religion, which clearly isn'tTrollope's style, he chooses to take a more liberal look at the underlyingmorality of the actions of his characters.'Dr. Wortle's School' has avery modern ring for a Victorian novel, and the themes and characters couldeasily have been depicted by Joanna rather than Anthony Trollope.Add tothat the mysterious tone of Wilkie Collins and you have a very satisfyingVictorian novel. ... Read more

Book Description
Booth secured letters from several collections for a total of 932. ... Read more

Book Description
Reports from the West Indies, North America, Australia and New Zealand, and South Africa by the quintessential Victorian voyager, an adventurous and energetic sightseer with a fine sense of humor and irony. ... Read more