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An Old Man's Love

3.26 of 5 stars 3.26 · rating details · 95 ratings · 14 reviews

When William Whittlestaff becomes guardian to the penniless daughter of an old friend, he finds himself gradually falling in love with her. But Mary is herself in love with John Gordon, who has gone to seek his fortune in the Kimberley diamond fields. The Oxford edition of An Old Man's Love, Trollope's last completed work is the only annotated edition in print and is accom...more

Paperback, 328 pages

Published November 14th 1991 by Oxford University Press, USA (first published 1884)

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Nov 29, 2010 Karla (Mossy Love Grotto) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic-lit, ebook, older-man-younger-woman, guardian-ward, 3-stars

William Whittlestaff takes in the orphaned Mary Lawrie and, after a year, decides he's in love with her and proposes. She accepts. Unfortunately, Mary's old sweetheart, John Gordon, arrives the next day from the Kimberley diamonds mines, having rectified his poverty. So what's a girl to do? What's the 50-year old, previously-disappointed-in-love-decades-ago Whittlestaff to do?

I've been away from the Victorian authors for a good long while, but I don't think this one is nearly as good as I recall...more William Whittlestaff takes in the orphaned Mary Lawrie and, after a year, decides he's in love with her and proposes. She accepts. Unfortunately, Mary's old sweetheart, John Gordon, arrives the next day from the Kimberley diamonds mines, having rectified his poverty. So what's a girl to do? What's the 50-year old, previously-disappointed-in-love-decades-ago Whittlestaff to do?

I've been away from the Victorian authors for a good long while, but I don't think this one is nearly as good as I recall Trollope's other works were. This story was simple, but the framing of it was ponderous and very redundant throughout. Perhaps that was the point of it, however; that a very heavy matter weighed on the minds of all three main characters (Whittlestaff, Mary, and John Gordon) and so it's natural that they should chew over the same facts again and again.

It was a quick read, but it was very tedious in too many spots. So much of it was the internal thoughts of the characters as they tried to work out the problem: what was expected of them (heart vs. duty), what was the "best interests" of the other parties, outside advice and pressure, and so on. The character of Mrs. Baggett and her situation with her drunked sot of an errant, leeching husband brought the whole "marital duty" aspect into the story - once a promise is made to be one's wife, it's mandatory to stick through it, thick or thin, and deny - all the while proclaiming - one's sacrificial martyrdom.

There was a tight cast of characters, each providing some characteristic that crops up so much in Victorian lit - punny names like a groom and gardener called Hayonotes and Thornybush, respectively; and meddling nosybodies like the local soon-to-be married vicar Blake who is a right boor and acts out of self-righteous romantic inclinations but seems to be doomed after marriage. (Trollope certainly implies that his wife will be fed up with him in a matter of months.)

I'm glad it was a short book. I honestly don't think the slim concept of it could have borne too many more pages and revisits to the same thought processes. It ended as one would expect, but I still kept reading because I wasn't entirely certain.(less)

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Apr 17, 2013 Tony rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction-mainstream

AN OLD MAN’S LOVE. (1884). Anthony Trollope. ****.
The more I read of this author’s work, the more I want to read. Although Trollope has a Victorian prose style and a Victorian approach to the morals of his time, he manages to span the generations in the way that these morals affect the behavior of his characters. Trollope was also a master of dialog. His characters think before they speak – a behavior that is uncharacteristic of much of today’s writing. This novel was Trollope’s last to be publi...more AN OLD MAN’S LOVE. (1884). Anthony Trollope. ****.
The more I read of this author’s work, the more I want to read. Although Trollope has a Victorian prose style and a Victorian approach to the morals of his time, he manages to span the generations in the way that these morals affect the behavior of his characters. Trollope was also a master of dialog. His characters think before they speak – a behavior that is uncharacteristic of much of today’s writing. This novel was Trollope’s last to be published before his death. It is a relatively short novel when compared with the bulk of his work. Although short, it manages to fully explore the nature of love between a young woman and an older man under difficult circumstances. Mary Lawrie was the daughter of a friend of William Whittlestaff. When Mr. Lawrie’s wife died, he remarried soon after to a woman who, as Mary’s step-mother, was less than enamored of her. Mary was unhappy at home, but stayed to do what had to be done. When her father died, Mary was left with her step-mother, who soon became sick. Thereafter for a while, Mary became her step-mother’s nurse. When step-mom died, Mary had no place to go – but Mr. Whittlestaff took her in to live with him and his old housekeeper, Mrs. Baggett. At the time, Mary was 25-years-old and Mr. Whittlestaff was 50-years old. The relationship at first was that of a father to a daughter, but, after a year or so, Whittlestaff began to have feelings for her that were other than fatherly. When he finally got up the nerve to ask if she would marry him, she told him that she had first to share a secret with him. While living with her step-mother, they were visited by a Mr. John Gordon, a young man who flirted with Mary. He was run off the property because he had no money and no prospects. He left without the two of them having made any commitments, but Mary did fall in love with him. Mary told this to Whittlestaff, but still agreed to marry him. Then, the day after this agreement was made, John Gordon shows up. Now what? The story builds from there, and manages to explore the ‘old man’s love’ in great detail. This was a marvelous story. Recommended.
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Mar 27, 2012 Petra X rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction

Soppy and unlikely love story of a rich old man (of 50!) and an indigent but nicely brought-up young woman of 25 whose long-lost suitor comes back into her life the day of her engagement to the old man. Shall she choose money over love? Shall she justify her choice because she doesn't want to hurt the feelings of this one or that one? Shall one or other of these men relinquish her to the more-suitable other? These weren't really the sort of existential questions that kept me eagerly turning the...more

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Feb 22, 2012 Everyman rated it 3 of 5 stars

Trollope is one of my favorite writers, so it's hard to give one of his books only three stars, but I can go no higher, and even considered two stars.

An Old Man's Love is Trollope's last novel, published posthumously. It has a thin plot, little action, and a very limited cast of characters. The interest in the novel comes from the internal struggle of the Old Man of the title, William Whittlestaff, a single man of 50, disappointed in love earlier in his life, who gives a home to Mary Lawrie, wh...more Trollope is one of my favorite writers, so it's hard to give one of his books only three stars, but I can go no higher, and even considered two stars.

An Old Man's Love is Trollope's last novel, published posthumously. It has a thin plot, little action, and a very limited cast of characters. The interest in the novel comes from the internal struggle of the Old Man of the title, William Whittlestaff, a single man of 50, disappointed in love earlier in his life, who gives a home to Mary Lawrie, whose father, an old friend of Whittlestaff's, has died, leaving her, at 25, penniless. Mary has also been disappointed in love; several years before she had fallen in love with John Gordon, but given that he was also penniless after his father's bank failed, they were unable to marry, and he left for the diamond fields of Kimberley without their having made any commitment to each other.

Whittlestaff finds himself falling in love with Mary, and eventually asks her to marry him. She discloses that she still loves John Gordon, but that there was never a promise made to or from him, and, after a week's reflection on her future, accepts the proposal with the clear understanding that she still loves John Gordon, but will be a good and faithful wife to Whittlestaff, which we know from her character to be true.

The very afternoon after Mary agrees to marry Whittlestaff, John Gordon returns to claim her, having made his fortune in the diamond mines. If he had returned a day earlier, Mary would have joyfully accepted his proposal, but she has made a promise, and will keep it. John Gordon, in one of the more memorable scenes of the novel, lays out before Whittlestaff his right to Mary's hand, contending that she will be happier as his wife than as Whittlestaff's.

The bulk of the book is Whittlestaff's internal conflict on what he should do. He argues with himself that Gordon's wealth is unstable whereas his is secure, that he will give Mary a more stable and certain comfort and wealth, and that his entire future happiness rests on not releasing Mary from her commitment to him. Mary is steadfast in her commitment to keep her word to Whittlestaff, believing that as long as he wishes to hold her to her promise, this is her duty to him and to his past generosity.

And so the conflict turns on a simple question: will Whittlestaff, already in old age (as Trollope was when he wrote the novel), give up the possibility of his future happiness, release Mary to marry the man she truly loves, and return to the lonely life he was destined to live before Mary entered his life? Or will he assure his future happiness -- and there is no doubt in the reader's mind that if he holds Mary to her promise she will provide him with all the happiness she can -- at the cost of Mary settling for a marriage of respect but not love?

The outcome is predictable, and I found the path to it painfully slow. I seldom find myself skipping pages in a Trollope novel, but once the conflict had been well set in motion, I confess to proceeding with considerable rapidity and diminished attention as Whittlestaff dithered.

The strength of the novel is the well drawn characterizations and the internal conflict between securing one's happiness at the expense of another's, or providing one you love with her chance for happiness at the cost of your own. If the novel had been reduced in length by a third or so, it would have been a much stronger book, and would have received at least four stars. But as the situation drags on and on, it loses the drama and impact it had carried for the first two thirds of the novel. After awhile, one is just begging Trollope to get on with it.

It is still a book with some interest, worth a quick reading. But it is far from Trollope's strongest work, and is probably best read only by those who have already basked in his stronger works, particularly his Barchestshire and Palliser novels and his best standalone novels, Orley Farm, He Knew He was Right, and The Way We Live Now. If you want to read Trollope, read those first, and then if you find you enjoy his work and have some reading time to spare, spend a bit of time with these characters and ponder whether you would make the same decision that Whittlestaff does. (less)

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Dec 29, 2011 Mary Ronan Drew rated it 3 of 5 stars

An Old Man's Love was written shortly before Anthony Trollope's death in 1882 and published shortly after. It is a short novel, a mere tenth of the size of some of his thick mid-career works. And it is a bit unusual for Trollope in that the story focuses on an old man rather than on the young lovers who are being kept apart by the love of old Mr Whittlestaff. The plot is reminiscent of Harriet Beecher Stowe's 1859 novel, The Minister's Wooing.

William Whittlestaff, 50, is the old man of the story...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Jim rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: trollope

Due largely to the Yahoo! Trollope reading group over the last six years, I have by now read most of the 47 novels by Anthony Trollope. Few writers of fiction are so consistently good. Every time I think I have read enough of his work, and then start on a new one, I become newly enamored of his work. An Old Man's Love is a good example: I did not think the author had any more surprises in store for me, but I was wrong!

William Whittlestaff is an "old" bachelor who was once stood up by a young wom...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Maria Grazia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

Henry James said that Trollope's greatest and undeniable merit was his utter understanding of the ordinary. He succeded in feeling any little thing in everyday life not only in seeing it. He felt them simply and directly in their sadness and in their gaiety, in their appeal and in their comical aspects and in their most obvious but sensible meanings. This introduction of an amazingly prolific writer made by another terrific author made me feel guilty and sorry for not knowing him more and deeply...more Henry James said that Trollope's greatest and undeniable merit was his utter understanding of the ordinary. He succeded in feeling any little thing in everyday life not only in seeing it. He felt them simply and directly in their sadness and in their gaiety, in their appeal and in their comical aspects and in their most obvious but sensible meanings. This introduction of an amazingly prolific writer made by another terrific author made me feel guilty and sorry for not knowing him more and deeply. I decided I had to read one of Trollope's novels. Isn't he one of the Victorian writers , I'm so intrested in? He is, but I'm ashamed to say I had never read one of his novels.
So, strangely enough , I happened to start from his latest achievement, written in the final years of his life and only published posthumously in 1884: AN OLD MAN'S LOVE.
The story is rather paradoxical and extremely pleasant: Trollope's irony and wit, his attention to simple ordinary aspects of life, to very simple and ordinary people, his bitter/sweet approach to the theme of old age versus youth made this last of his works a very good, entertaining read.
Maybe some of you have already noticed I've got a professional tendency to find connections and links - a pedantic mania ? - and also on this occasion ... here we go!

Trollope & Austen: Mr Hall vs Mr Bennet

Introducing Mr. Hall, Trollope directly reflects on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice and, especially, on Mr Bennet. Mr Hall , who has an entailed estate (which cannot be left to his female offspring), lives frugally — in fact in a style well beneath what one expect — precisely because he does not want to have his daughters end up in the world of Pride and Prejudice; that is, unlike Austen's Mr. Bennett, who retreats to his library and proclaims he can do nothing to help his daughters, Trollope's Mr. Hall changes his life, sacrificing much because chosen not "to leave his children paupers", so dependent on marriage for their economic survival. Trollope's character obviously criticizes Austen's as weak and self-indulgent.

Trollope & Dickens-Mr Sentiment

Trollope parodies Dickens calling him Mr Sentiment (see Trollope, Anthony. "Tom Towers, Dr. Anticant, and Mr. Sentiment." The Warden. World Classics. Oxford: Oxford UP). Reading this novella, An Old Man's Love, and after reading several of Dickens's novels their different approach to story-telling and characterization is evident.
Dickens's exaggerations often make his characters like caritures: both positive and negative aspects in their personalities are stressed and seen as through a magnifying glass. Trollope's characterization is more realistic, his humoristic portrayals are not based on exaggeration and his sense of human drama not approached with sensationalism. You smile and you are sorrowful at the different situations he describes, but you never laugh out loud or are never moved to tears. (Just in brackets, I do love Dickens!)

An Old Man's Love (less)

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Nov 11, 2008 Bettie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: classic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. "The Trollope Society" introduction

WILLIAM WHITTLESTAFF, HAVING lost the woman he loved to a richer, more lively rival many years before, lives alone at Croker Hall in Hampshire, looked after by his loyal, vituperative housekeeper Mrs Baggett. Mr Whittlestaff impulsively takes in as his ward the orphaned daughter of an old friend, nineteen year-old Mary Lawrie, much to Mrs Baggett's disapproval. She - rightly - suspects that Mary's arrival will eventually lead to her master falling in love with...more "The Trollope Society" introduction

WILLIAM WHITTLESTAFF, HAVING lost the woman he loved to a richer, more lively rival many years before, lives alone at Croker Hall in Hampshire, looked after by his loyal, vituperative housekeeper Mrs Baggett. Mr Whittlestaff impulsively takes in as his ward the orphaned daughter of an old friend, nineteen year-old Mary Lawrie, much to Mrs Baggett's disapproval. She - rightly - suspects that Mary's arrival will eventually lead to her master falling in love with the girl, who will supplant her as head of the household. The reserved, unworldly Mary gradually warms towards the lonely bachelor, and he eventually asks her to be his wife. Mary has only briefly experienced love three years before, with John Gordon, a penniless Oxford student who was sent away by her step-mother as a bad prospect. Mary accepts Mr Whittlestaff, but not before making him aware of the history of her short and painful dealings with John Gordon. He dismisses this knowledge, allowing that Mary 'may think of him' from time to time, but privately presuming the young man to be safely out of her life.

But John Gordon unexpectedly arrives at Croker Hall. Fresh from the diamond fields of South Africa where he has made a considerable fortune in order to make himself worthy of Mary, he has come to renew his suit, and she finds herself caught in an impossible situation, feeling incapable of jilting the man whose proposal she has so recently accepted. Mr Whittlestaff, though well aware who it is that Mary really loves, is unwilling to be rejected himself once again, and reluctant to release her from her promise. John Gordon, unable quite to give up hope, goes to stay for a few days with an old university friend, Montagu Blake, a curate who lives nearby. The battle is on for the hand of Mary Lawrie.

An Old Man's Love is the work of an old author. Although Mr Whittlestaff is far from old - he is only fifty - Trollope's portrait of him reflects something of his own sense of having outlived his time. Mr Whittlestaff senses this too, just as he foresees the inevitability of what will happen. Scattered through the book are some sharp and humorous minor character sketches: the outspoken Mrs Baggett, whose waspish tongue hides a deep affection for her employer; her estranged, drunken husband, Sergeant Baggett; the gauche, tactless Mr Blake, blithely ignoring Mr Whittlestaff's pain as he pushes the claims of John Gordon; and the merry, lively Hall family at Alresford, a household which is full of life and youth. Through all of this, William Whittlestaff carefully picks his way towards a decision which, though inevitable, will also quietly break his heart. This was Trollope's last completed work, published posthumously in 1884.

Read by Tony Britton

More procrastinations and mental peregrinations than Hamlet but I love Hamlet. If I hadn't been so busy with my handies I should have cast this to the wall.(less)

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May 06, 2012 Jeremy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Listened to most of this on the drive to Wawrwick. Very well read and quite entertaining. Like all Trollope, very slow paced. If I had not been captive in the car I probably would have put it down but I am glad I did not as it kept me sane between the M6 toll and the A38.

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May 27, 2007 David rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: trollope

This was the last of Trollope's novels to be published.

William Whittlestaff is the old man of the title. (He's 50!) Whittlestaff takes in Mary Lawrie, 25, after his old friend, her father, has died leaving her penniless.

A few years earlier, Mary had fallen in love with John Gordon, but he was too poor to take a wife and has now been gone from their town for three years.

After a few months, Whittlestaff proposes to Mary, and she accepts, mainly out of a sense of gratitude for the kindness he has s...more

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Aug 07, 2010 Lulu7 rated it 3 of 5 stars

Old men have a diifferent way of loving-there are other ways to reach into another's heart-and life has many chances and changes

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Oct 01, 2011 Laurele rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: audible, books-read-in-2011, trollope

Lovely!

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Aug 23, 2007 Irene added it Recommends it for: anyone who will make their first attempt with the classics

this was my first try at reading the classics (not including the required readings).it was being sold at a discounted price, the thickness wasn't intimidating.i deemed it a safe gamble of my precious time.i had no idea who Mr Trollope was.my instinct turned out to be right.i think i would like to re-read again after 7 years.

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Jul 07, 2008 Elena rated it 3 of 5 stars

Difficult to evluate, as unfortunately I read it in Italian and the translation was so bad I could not appreciate the author's style nor, at times, the dialogues, which were sort of obscure.

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About Anthony Trollope

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 ha...more

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Barchester Towers (Barsetshire Chronicles, #2)

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