One of the most celebrated and prolific authors of the Victorian era, Anthony Trollope (1815 82) requested that his autobiography be published posthumously. The two-volume work, first published in 1883 and reissued here in the second edition of that year, recounts his childhood, successful career at the Post Office, and multiple achievements as a writer. Well received by the critics of the time, the work reveals the incredible discipline that enabled Trollope to write forty-seven novels in the course of his career. Of particular interest to literary scholars, the reflections on his early life...

'Mr Slope flattered himself that he could out-manoeuvre the lady...he did not doubt of ultimate triumph.'
Barchester Towers (1857) was the book that made Trollope's reputation and it remains his most popular and enjoyable novel. The arrival of a new bishop in Barchester, accompanied by his formidable wife and ambitious chaplain, Obadiah Slope, sets the town in turmoil as Archdeacon Grantly declares 'War, war, internecine war ' on Bishop Proudie and his supporters. Who will come out on top in the battle between the archdeacon, the bishop, Mr Slope, and Mrs Proudie?
The livelihood of Mr...

This classic study of the working life of a professional writer is one of the best -- and also one of the strangest -- autobiographies ever written. After a miserable childhood and misspent youth, Trollope turned his life around at the age of twenty-six. By 1860 the 'hobbledehoy' had become both a senior civil servant and a best-selling novelist. He worked for the Post Office for many years and stood unsuccessfully for Parliament. Best-known for the two series of novels grouped loosely around the clerical and political professions, the Barsetshire and Palliser series, in his Autobiography...

'All Hogglestock believed their parson to be innocent; but then all Hogglestock believed him to be mad.'
Josiah Crawley lives with his family in the parish of Hogglestock, East Barsetshire, where he is perpetual curate. Impoverished like his parishioners, Crawley is hard-working and respected but he is an unhappy, disappointed man, ill-suited to cope when calamity strikes. He is accused of stealing a cheque to pay off his debts; too proud to defend himself, he risks ruin and disgrace unless the truth can be brought to light. Crawley's predicament divides the community into those who seek...

'What to come here a stranger, a young, unknown, and unfriended stranger, and tell us, in the name of the bishop his master, that we are ignorant of our duties, old-fashioned, and useless '
This 1857 sequel to The Warden wryly chronicles the struggle for control of the English diocese of Barchester. It opens with the Bishop of Barchester lying on his death bed; soon a battle begins over who will take over power, with key players including the rather incompetent Dr Proudie, his fiendishly unpleasant wife and his slippery curate, Slope. This is a wonderfully rich novel, in...

Frank Gresham is bankrupt and in love. Unfortunately, the woman he loves, Mary Thorne, is illegitimate and broke. Frank's overbearing mother is against the match, insisting that Frank marry a wealthy heiress. Meanwhile, Doctor Thorne, Mary's uncle, knows that Mary is about to inherit a fortune, but he wants the young lovers to make their decision unburdened by the knowledge. Will Frank succumb to family pressure, or go with his heart?

Doctor Thorne is a compelling story in which love, vanity, and greed are pitted against one another.
The squire of Greshamsbury has fallen on hard times, and it is incumbent on his son Frank to make a good marriage. But Frank loves the doctor's niece, Mary Thorne, a girl with no money and mysterious parentage. He faces a terrible dilemma: should he save the estate, or marry the girl he loves? Mary, too, has to battle her feelings, knowing that marrying Frank would ruin his family and fly in the face of his mother's opposition. Her pride is matched by that of her uncle, Dr Thorne, who has...