Dr. Wortle's School

My mother is a huge Trollope fan but I had always found his enormo-tomes and their searching questions (Can You Forgive Her? Is He Popenjoy? Can U Dig It? etc.) a bit daunting, so this is my first Trollope read. It's shorter than many of his books and less heavy-going than I expected. The young love subplot is a drag but the examination of the way smear campaigns work (especially as regards women) is very astute and hasn't aged a day. The American shenanigans of young Mr Peacocke and his adversary, the impoverished Plantation heir and grifter Robert Lefroy, were at times as compelling as Jack London. So yeah, if you like 19th century fiction by the likes of Elizabeth Gaskell or George Eliot, then this could well interest you.