The novel is largely set in and near the town of Dillsborough, in the fictional Rufford County. The two principal subplots center on the courtship behaviour of two young women. The heroine, Mary Masters, is the daughter of an attorney, and has been raised as a gentlewoman. Her stepmother is from a lower social order; believing it best for Mary, she pressures her strongly to accept a proposal from Lawrence Twentyman, a prosperous young yeoman farmer with aspirations to gentility. While Mary respects Twentyman for his excellent qualities, she feels that she cannot love him as a wife should a...

Fred Neville, a lieutenant of cavalry and heir to the earldom of Scroope, woos and then seduces the beautiful Kate O'Hara. Kate lives with her mother in genteel poverty in an isolated cottage near the cliffs of Moher in western Ireland. News of the romantic entanglement quickly reaches Scroope Manor, and Fred is summoned back to Dorsetshire where the earl extracts a firm undertaking that Fred will not marry Kate O'Hara under any circumstances, despite any promises he has made to the girl. Once back in Ireland, Fred is confronted at his barracks by Mrs. O'Hara, demanding to know when he...

Finn is the only son of a successful Irish doctor, Dr Malachi Finn of Killaloe, County Clare, who sends him to London to become a lawyer. He proves to be a lackadaisical student, but being pleasant company and strikingly handsome to boot, he makes many influential friends. One of them, a politician, Barrington Erle, suggests that he stand for Parliament in the coming election. At first, the idea seems absurd. Finn is supported solely by a modest allowance from his father, but a stroke of luck clears his path. One of his father's patients is Lord Tulla, a nobleman who controls a little borough...

"The Three Clerks" from Anthony Trollope. Anthony Trollope, one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists (1815-1882).

This is the fourth book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire but, as with the others, it can be read as a stand alone novel. One of the two main themes surrounds Mark Robarts, the young vicar of Framley, who becomes ensnared into guaranteeing a loan for the unscrupulous local MP, which causes many difficulties for Mark until the local landowner and close friend, Lord Ludovic Lufton, comes to his aid. The other main theme is the romance between Lufton and Mark's young sister, Lucy, much to the horror of Lufton's mother, who has other ideas for the marriage of her son. An amusing subplot is the...

Whether or no, she, whom you are to forgive, if you can, did or did not belong to the Upper Ten Thousand of this our English world, I am not prepared to say with any strength of affirmation. By blood she was connected with big people, -distantly connected with some very big people indeed, people who belonged to the Upper Ten Hundred if there be any such division; but of these very big relations she had known and seen little, and they had cared as little for her. Her grandfather, Squire Vavasor of Vavasor Hall, in Westmoreland, was a country gentleman, possessing some thousand a year at the...

The widowed Mrs Dale and her daughters, Bell and Lily, live in the dower house on the estate of the Squire of Allington, Mrs Dale's brother-in-law. The handsome but self-serving and socially ambitious Adolphus Crosbie captures Lily's heart and they become engaged, but she will suffer heartbreak at Crosbie's hands.

In Part Two Crosbie marries Lady Alexandrina but immediately regrets doing so. The careers of both Crosbie and Eames flourish. Lily remains steadfast in her love for Crosbie whilst Bell has two suitors. As with all Trollope's novels, there are several sub-plots and many minor characters introduced.

The Rev. Septimus Harding was, a few years since, a beneficed clergyman residing in the cathedral town of ----; let us call it Barchester. Were we to name Wells or Salisbury, Exeter, Hereford, or Gloucester, it might be presumed that something personal was intended; and as this tale will refer mainly to the cathedral dignitaries of the town in question, we are anxious that no personality may be suspected. Let us presume that Barchester is a quiet town in the West of England, more remarkable for the beauty of its cathedral and the antiquity of its monuments than for any commercial prosperity;...

In the latter days of July in the year 185--, a most important question was for ten days hourly asked in the cathedral city of Barchester, and answered every hour in various ways-Who was to be the new bishop? The death of old Dr. Grantly, who had for many years filled that chair with meek authority, took place exactly as the ministry of Lord ---- was going to give place to that of Lord ----. The illness of the good old man was long and lingering, and it became at last a matter of intense interest to those concerned whether the new appointment should be made by a conservative or liberal...