Lady Anna

When it appeared in 1874, Lady Anna met with little success, andpositively outraged the conservative - 'This is the sort of thing the readingpublic will never stand...a man must be embittered by some violent presentexasperation who can like such disruptions of social order as this.' (SaturdayReview) - although Trollope himself considered it 'the best novel I ever wrote!Very much! Quite far away above all others!!!'This tightly constructed and passionate study of enforced marriage in the worldof Radical politics and social inequality, records the lifelong attempt ofCountess Lovel to justify her claim to her title, and her daughter Anna'slegitimacy, after her husband announces that he already has a wife. However,mother and daughter are driven apart when Anna defies her mother's wish that shemarry her cousin, heir to her father's title, and falls in love with journeymantailor and young Radical Daniel Thwaite. The outcome is never in doubt, butTrollope's ambivalence on the question is profound, and the novel both intenseand powerful.