Francisca’s Reviews > Doctor Thorne > Status Update

"There is a mode of novel-writing which used to be much in vogue, but which has now gone out of fashion. It is, nevertheless, one which is very expressive when in good hands, and which enables the author to tell his story with more natural trust than any other, I mean that of familiar letters. I trust I shall be excused if I attempt it as regards this one chapter..."

Changing economic prospects due to industrialization; contentious electioneering and accusations of bribery and fraud; perils of speed dating.... 1858 and 2021 keep sounding more and more alike :D

"From my tedious way of telling it, the reader will be led to imagine that the hand-squeezing had been protracted to a duration quite incompatible with any objection to such an arrangement on the part of the lady; but the fault is all mine: in no part hers. Were I possessed of a quick spasmodic style of narrative, I should have been able to include it all ... in five words and half a dozen dashes and inverted commas"

I love it when Trollope breaks the third wall

"I quite feel that an apology is due for beginning a novel with two long dull chapters full of description. I am perfectly aware of the danger of such a course. ... It can hardly be expected that anyone will consent to go through with a fiction that offers so little of allurement in its first pages; but twist it as I will I cannot do otherwise."