Doctor Thorne

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Doctor Thorne, by Anthony Trollope

The Barsetshire Chronicles make me happy. They are just fun, pleasant books to read. Doctor Thorne is the third Barsetshire book, and it is really long and really nice. I have read a lot of Angela Thirkell novels (she lifted and used the Barsetshire setting) and it surprises me how familiar Trollope feels; Thirkell must have done a really good job of writing in the same vein.

In Doctor Thorne, we get to know the doctor and his niece Mary, who is a lovely girl but unfortunately illegitimate. The young squire of the county, Frank Gresham, falls in love with Mary--but his mother is conscious of the duties of high breeding and noble blood, and his father has run the Greshamsbury estate deeply into debt, so that everyone assumes that Frank must marry money. Can the lovers ever be united? Only Doctor Thorne knows that Mary might be the solution to all of Lady Gresham's problems.

I liked it. The next Barsetshire novel is Framley Parsonage, so I'll read that sometime soon when I'm feeling cozy.

Comments

  1. EvaFebruary 4, 2012 at 12:04 AM

    I'm about the start the last of Trollope's Barsetshire series (fortunately, I've got Thirkell's first waiting on my shelves!). :) Dr Thorne was one of my faves. Framley Parsonage is lovely too, and Jo Watson was inspired by it to write a Victorian novel with dragons for characters, Tooth and Claw.

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  2. Sarah Reads Too MuchFebruary 4, 2012 at 7:03 AM

    This is a new title for me... I really started getting into Victorian novels last year and I loved the settings too.

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  3. JeanFebruary 4, 2012 at 3:01 PM

    Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! I seem to be more into Victorian novels now than I was last year..when I did the Victorian lit challenge...

    I'll have to look up Tooth and Claw. I love Angela Thirkell, she's funny, BUT I don't bother with anything written much after "Peace Breaks Out."

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