Doctor Thorne - Anthony Trollope

In a fine example of the nominal determinism so rife in the Victorian novel, the eponymous hero is hard, spiky, and resolute in the defence of the rose - his niece, the blandly virtuous Mary.

Trollope peoples his Barsetshire with convincing and three-dimensional secondary characters that carry the reader through this over-extended story. In particular I would have liked to have seen more of the cheeky, strikingly modern wealthy spinster Miss Dunstable.

The resolution of this archetypal plot (dodgy wills, mysterious parentage, thwarted love) is telegraphed way in advance and leaves the reader in the uncomfortable position of willing for the death of a character so that the "right" person inherits the dosh. In fact, the whole book is almost derailed by conflicted and contradictory attitudes towards class, money, duty and snobbery.

I suppose it is a testament to the sensitive and gently humorous qualities of Trollope's writing that the novel ultimately overcomes its obvious shortcomings to become rather enjoyable.