The Mistletoe Bough

by Anthony Trollope

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. He wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day. In 1867 Trollope left his position in the British Post Office to run for Parliament as a Liberal candidate in 1868. After he lost, he concentrated entirely on his literary career. While continuing to produce novels rapidly, he also edited the St Paul's Magazine, which published several of his novels in serial form. His first major success came with The Warden (1855) - the first of six novels set in the fictional county of Barsetshire. The comic masterpiece Barchester Towers (1857) has probably become the best-known of these. Trollope's popularity and critical success diminished in his later years, but he continued to write prolifically, and some of his later novels have acquired a good reputation. In particular, critics generally acknowledge the sweeping satire The Way We Live Now (1875) as his masterpiece. In all, Trollope wrote forty-seven novels, as well as dozens of short stories and a few books on travel.

Genres: Christmas, Fiction, Short Stories, Classics, Literature

48 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1883

About the author

Anthony Trollope became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works, known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire; he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and conflicts of his day.

Trollope has always been a popular novelist. Noted fans have included Sir Alec Guinness (who never travelled without a Trollope novel), former British Prime Ministers Harold Macmillan and Sir John Major, economist John Kenneth Galbraith, American novelists Sue Grafton and Dominick Dunne and soap opera writer Harding Lemay. Trollope's literary reputation dipped somewhat during the last years of his life, but he regained the esteem of critics by the mid-twentieth century.
See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_...

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the story takes place after Christmas, which is a bit of a bummer. This is really a love story set around Christmas time. Not super memorable characters or events, but an enjoyable story.

[Bobbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good Christmas short story which I enjoyed very much. My concern with it was that it was so nearly like the short-story before it in "Christmas at Thompson Hall." I liked them both but they were so similar that I could not understand the author's point in writing them both in the same book.

[Susan Molloy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This a (sort of) fun, and mostly typical, Anthony Trollope short story from 1864 that uses the Christmas season as a backdrop. Reading this short story was a refreshing change from reading his lengthy novels that take me weeks to read.

🟢 Media form: Project Gutenberg .

[Maria Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anthony Trollope, mi descubrimiento de estas navidades, qué historias tan entretenidas escribe este chico!!

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another of Trollope's stories about love, marriage, and the difficulty of uniting in matrimony. Elizabeth Garrow used to be engaged to marry Rodney Holmes, but it was broken off for some mysterious reason which the former refuses to divulge. All it takes is for Elizabeth's friends and a bough of mistletoe at Christmas to get the ball rolling. Not one of his best stories; and yet, there are no bad ones, either.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The main characters of this story are a couple who have broken their engagement but must spend Christmas together. I could predict where the story was going, but it was marvelous fun to follow it there, and Trollope peppered it with his subtle humor, which I found delightful.

Kissing, I fear, is less innocent now than it used to be when our grandmothers were alive, and we have become more fastidious in our amusements.

If he thought kissing had lost its innocence by 1880, he ought to see the state of it now.

It would be so pleasant to take that hand, so sweet, so joyous, that it surely must be wrong.

I think, perhaps, we have all experienced this feeling...falls under the "too good to be true" category. I remember feeling much that way when I first fell in love with my husband...as if I were not worthy of him and the bottom was sure to fall through any moment.

[Peter McGinn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a short novel when I started reading this on Kindle, but suddenly saw I was 75% of the way through, so — okay, short story. Considering how prolific Trollope was, he must have dashed this tale off between breakfast and lunch. It takes place in a limited space and time frame and containers several characters who are merely sketched out for us but still have more of a spark for me than the two lovers. As someone who writes novels, I don’t write short stories myself. If I had written this piece I would have been thinking of ways to use some of the peripheral characters in a separate novel.

So it was okay, if somewhat limited in scope and characterization.

[Janice · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have always enjoyed Trollope but this time I was highly disappointed. The story came down to convincing a young girl to marry a man she had accepted and then rejected. I was disappointed with the story because there was really no emotional pathway developed that explained her decision in the end.

[CPRichardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice obvious Xmas story

Fun yet with an obvious outcome. If you like Trollope you will love this canapé before the main meal which is his usual outputs, literary-wise.

[Surfy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Estuvo bien, lo que entendí (la leí en inglés) me gustó, no fue mi historia corta favorita pero esta bien para la temporada navideña.

[Allan Brewer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The juxtaposition of emotion and supposed morality of Victorian females seems to have been quite complicated - Trollope explains it at length, and well - though I am not sure I understand it still.

[Rita Ferrando Gomila · Rating 4 out of 5]

Crec que donaria per peli o serie. Es caràcter de n'Anthony Trollope not que seria molt avançat per sa seva època i té una manera d'escriure molt moderna i amena.

[Michael P. · Rating 3 out of 5]

This charming story is not up to Trollope's best for the emotional transition remains hidden. We see the problem and the result, but not the process so we do not take the journey would our protagonist. Still, lesser Trollope is still Trollope, and so a delight. Fine holiday reading.

[Leslie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice holiday romance.

[Sasha Ustyuzhanina]

- Люблю, но замуж не пойду, вы же богаты и любите меня в ответ
- Не стоит думать, что это слишком примитивно - быть счастливой без препятствий
- Вы меня убедили, я ваша.

Рождественская история о том, что от поцелуев под омелой никуда не деться.