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The Complete Short Stories of Anthony Trollope #4

The Complete Short Stories Volume 4: Courtship and Marriage

From the Forward by Joanna Trollope: "The stories in this volume are dominated by free-spirited girls. The young men possess the financial power, and the terrible ultimate power of keeping their promise of marriage, but they don't have the power of personality. Circled by girls like Patience Woolsworthy and Lucy Graham and Ophelia Gledd, the men often give the impression of longing to escape because these girls—frank, brave, gay and steadfast—are simply too much for them … A girl’s true dowry, Trollope says, is herself, and he applauds her for insisting on being valued for her own sake."

282 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1982

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About the author

Anthony Trollope

2,757 books1,848 followers
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_...

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5 stars
9 (20%)
4 stars
24 (54%)
3 stars
8 (18%)
2 stars
2 (4%)
1 star
1 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
Profile Image for Justin Pickett.
610 reviews66 followers
November 27, 2023
Of the story collections I have read, this is among the best. If you enjoy Victorian literature, and especially if you like Anthony Trollope’s novels, then you will likely love almost every story herein. Below, are short summaries of each story, proceeding from my favorite to least favorite, along with illustrative quotes.

Alice Dugdale (Five Stars)

A doctor’s daughter who cares for her many half brothers and sisters, passes her days in a nursery while watching with honor while the man she loves courts a beautiful athlete—an archer and skilled horse rider.

“But she had kept her tears for herself, and had shown her smiles for the comfort of those around her.” (p. 107)

“She had her work to do, and she knew that as long as she did that, grief would not overpower her … Let any man come or let any man go, she would go on, at any rate apparently untroubled, in her walk of life.” (p. 111)

Malachi’s Cove (Five Stars)

Mally Trenglos is a young woman with no friends who gathers seaweed to sell for her grandfather. When a local farmer’s son begins gathering seaweed nearby, it creates competition and hostility.

“‘That he may be drownded then!” said Mally, in her anger. ‘If he was in the big hole there among the rocks, and the sea running in at half-tide, I wouldn’t lift a hand to help him out.’” (p. 55)

The Courtship of Susan Bell (Five Stars)

Susan Bell, the daughter of a dead lawyer, lives with her fearful, overprotective mother in a cottage near Saratoga Springs, New York. When a young man, an engineer and artist, becomes a winter boarder at the cottage, she and her mother must wrestle with what to make of him.

“‘But yet he may be a wolf,’ thought the poor widow, just as she was kneeling down to say her prayers.” (p. 176)

“Aaron Dunn took up the drawing quietly, very quietly, and rolling it up, as such drawings are rolled, put it between the blazing logs.” (p. 180)

The Telegraph Girl (Five Stars)

Lucy Graham, who is hardworking and independent, moves in with Sophie, a sickly female coworker, who is out for a husband. Lucy cares about Sophie, but differs tremendously from her (e.g., she is not comfortable with going to dancing halls).

“Three shillings a day to cover all expenses of life, food, raiment, shelter, a room in which to eat and sleep, and fire and light, —and recreation if recreation there might be, — is not much; but when Lucy Graham, the heroine of this tale, found herself alone in the world, she was glad to think that she was able to earn so much by her work, and that thus she possessed the means of independence is she chose to be independent.” (p. 69)

“There are cases in which it is very hard to say what is right and what is wrong. Some things seem right because people have been wrong so long.” (p. 95)

The Lady of Launay (Four Stars)

A woman adopts a girl, and loves her desperately. However, many years later, she does everything she can to prevent one of her biological sons and her adopted daughter from becoming romantically involved.

“HOW GREAT IS THE DIFFERENCE between doing our duty and desiring to do it.” (p. 223)

“A great temptation did come in her way, and it is the purport of this little story to tell how far she stood and how far she fell.” (p. 224)

“Whatever might be the duty of a man or a woman that duty should be founded on truth.” (p. 263)

Miss Ophelia Gledd (Four Stars)

A story set during snow-sleighing season in Boston, Massachusetts, which compares English and American culture by following an intelligent and frank woman with many suitors. The woman, Ophelia Gledd, has an “absence of all reticence” but is fun to be with (has a “sense of cowmanship”).

“There are thousands among us who know it at a glance, and can recognize its presence from the sound of a dozen words; —but there is not one among us who can tell us what it is.” (p. 201)

“I began to fear that, though he might not have a six-shooter in his pocket, he had nevertheless some kind of pistol in his thoughts.” (p. 218)

“I wasn’t in love with her myself, and didn’t want to fall in love with her. But I felt that I should have liked to cross the Rocky Mountains with her, over to the Pacific, and to have come home round by California, Peru, and the Pampas.” (p. 213)

“There could be no greater contrast than that between him and Hoskins, and there could be no doubt which man would recommend himself most to our English world by his gait and demeanour. But I think there may be a doubt as to which was the best man, and a doubt also as to which would make the best husband.” (p. 219)

The O’Conors of Castle Conor, County Mayo (Four Stars)

A fox hunter visiting in Ireland receives hospitality from a prank-playing family, leading to a humorous night of festivities.

“Sorrow take ‘em for the shoes!” (p. 13)

The Parson’s Daughter of Oxney Colne (Four Stars)

Rev. Saul Woolsworthy’s daughter is a “hot-tempered damsel” who is courted by someone who has second thoughts, who worries about her class and ability to fit into London society.

“He had asked her to give him all that she had, and that all she was ready to give, without stint. But the gift must be valued before it could be given or received.” (p. 31)
Profile Image for Laura RSCP .
75 reviews3 followers
November 21, 2019
Buen libro de cuentos largos para pasar el rato al estilo victoriano!
Profile Image for Andrea.
513 reviews10 followers
June 22, 2022
Creo que se nota que me ha gustado Trollope 🤔 ya os digo que se pelea con mis autores favoritos, y definitivamente está en mi podium ya de favoritos. Es que este hombre me ha encantado y quiero leer toda su obra.

Bueno, yo creo que este libro está genial apara poder leer a ratitos y tal, pues son relatos, aunque el ultimo sea más larguito, de unas 95 páginas aprox.

Es curioso que la mitad de relatos me ha apasionado, y la otra mitad simplemente me han gustado bastante. Pero vaya mitad la que me ha flipado ! Wow !

Relatos me han enamorado y definitivamente vale la pena que leais:

- El noviazgo de Susan Bell

- El viaje a Panamá

- Catherine Carmichael

- Las dos heroínas de Plumplington

En este libro se exploran diferentes tipos de relaciones entre todo tipo de personas. No todo es amor todo el rato, también hay amistad y bastante drama jajajajaja aunque de una forma super ligera, y es que Trollope es muy salseante por lo que voy leyendo.

Me llama mucho la atención que si nos dejamos de centras en los lios amorosos que nos cuenta, hay mucho más en el fondo de sus historias.

Se retrata la sociedad del momento, esa mentalidad respecto a la educación de cierta forma, los modales, las diferencias entre ingleses y americanos, asuntos económicos ...

No sé, se muestra un retrato muy bien transmitido y que se te cuenta sin que parezca un ensayo ni nada por el estilo, está representado en la forma de ser de los personajes y su mentalidad.

Las mujeres tienen un gran protagonismo en estos relatos. Hay mujeres de armas tomar 😂, pero también otras que no tanto.

Yo creo que uno de los fuertes del autor es la caracterización de los personajes, lo bien que te los retrata sin deternerse realmente a detallartelo en miles de paginas, simplemente hace comentarios y te muestra sus acciones y su forma de ser.

Siento que te hace conocer muy bien a sus personajes y realmente se siente raro cuando acabas de leer porque les coges cariño a las historias.

No sé quien fue, pero se le cita mucho por todos lados, que dijo que Trollope es el Jane Austen masculino. Pues yo creo que no iba desencaminado, algo sí que me recuerda a mí a Austen y también a Dostoyevski.
Profile Image for Nuria Carreras.
494 reviews1 follower
April 11, 2022
Desde Nueva Zelanda hasta los Pirineos, los cuentos reunidos en esta antología tratan de amores imposibles, trabas sociales, compromisos aplazados e ingeniosos métodos de presión para lograr el objetivo final.

Anthony Trollope disecciona con precisión y humor la vida y los amores de la gente corriente: el director de un banco, el cervecero, la dueña de un hotel, una viuda con dos hijas, un joven ingeniero....

Me han gustado especialmente los dos últimos cuentos, Caroline Carmichael y Las dos heroínas de Plumpington con dos estilos diametralmente opuestos y perfectamente logrados

Me vuelto a comprobar que Trollope me encanta y me han servido para calmar la fiebre Trollope hasta la LC de Lady Anna.

#elnoviazgodesusanbell #lamerebauche #lahijadelpastordeoxneycolne #elviajeapanama #laseñoritaopheliagledd #lottaschmidt #catherinecarmichael #lasdosheroinasdeplumplington #noviazgoymstrimonio #cuentos #anthonytrollope #leeresvivir #leermola #leoclásicos
Profile Image for Maria Rosas.
573 reviews19 followers
February 17, 2023
Gran antología de relatos costumbristas ambientados en la época victoriana dónde las protagonistas jóvenes lidian con las distintas conveniencias y modos sociales respecto a los temas de matrimonio, noviazgo y compromiso
Hay de todo desde relatos donde triunfa el amor, o con intereses de por medio o algunos tristes por las diferencias sociales
Profile Image for Betsy.
737 reviews12 followers
September 14, 2021
Trollope writes interesting, three-dimensional women. Some of the stories in here have more conventional heroines, but “Malachi’s Cove” and “the Telegraph Girl” are particularly wonderful, with their unusually strong young women.
4 reviews
June 18, 2018
Para mí ha sido una revelación. No dudaría en recomendarlo a aquellos que gusten de la literatura descriptiva de costumbres.
Profile Image for Rosa María.
231 reviews51 followers
June 24, 2018
Relatos muy entretenidos que te trasladan a la época victoriana, en los que es más importante el desarrollo que el final. Lectura amena y que deja un buen sabor de boca.
117 reviews
January 9, 2026
Trollope es magnífico. Me han gustado todas las novelitas, especialmente la última. Tal vez sea algo monótono que todas traten el mismo tema.
Profile Image for Bob.
691 reviews7 followers
October 30, 2011
While there are subtle variations in the moral choices of the characters in these eight stories, the settings are varied and beautifully described (Boston in "Miss Ophelia Gledd" and England's Atlantic coast in "Malachi's Cove", and the "tone" varies markedly from the absurdly comic ("The O'Conors of Castle Conor, County Mayo") to somber "The Lady of Lounay." There are honest depictions of working life in "The Courtship of Susan Bell" and "The Telegraph Girl." The staple, though, is the thoughtful and honest English girl, as in "The Parson's Daughter of Oxney Colne" and "Alice Dugdale."
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews