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The small house at Allington by Anthony…
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The small house at Allington (original 1864; edition 1979)

by Anthony Trollope (Author), Julian Symons, Peter Reddick

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1,774499,583 (4.04)4 / 253
Trollope wrote with this one an in essence feministic Victorian novel. He questions the attitude of men who think they can marry the women they are in love with. And if not in the near future, then surely they will come around to their charms (or money) at a later time.

Trollope showed the Victorian (and the modern) reader that men are often not seen by women the way they would want them to. Here it is certainly the case and what in your regular Victorian novels (or in those of the period before that, the Regency - Jane Austen) is almost without exception the outcome of love’s struggles: marriage, is here presented in a totally different way. some men unhappy but most of the female characters happily ever after!
  leoslittlebooklife | Nov 17, 2022 |
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Read by Simon Vance ( )
  Mama56 | Dec 2, 2023 |
Anthony Trollop is a master at creating memorable characters. It has been months since I read the book but I can still remember the Dales and their associates vividly. What a fascinating relationship between Mr Dale and his sister-in-law, Mrs Mary Dale, both of them forming a grudging respect for each other. Other than Mr. Dale and John Crofts whom Isabella Dale married, there is nothing much to like about the men in the book. Adolphus Crosbie, John Eames and to a certain extent, Bernard Dale behave like cads. How delightful it is when Crosbie got his just desserts! ( )
  siok | Oct 28, 2023 |
Simon Vance does a marvelous job narrating this 5th entry in Trollope's Barsetshire series. Unfortunately, this novel is less amusing - more of a straightforward romance, with sickly sweet Lily Dale as the heroine.

2019 reread via LibriVox recording:
I still don't like Lily Dale! ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 27, 2023 |
Classic Barchester. I would agree with some other reviewers that by the end you do get exasperated with Lily. Unusually for Trollope he does not resolve all the plot lines by the end of the book. The minor ones are nicely tidied up but poor John and Lily are left rather in limbo. So I have started The Last Chronicle in the hope that Lily had finally seen sense. ( )
  Cotswoldreader | Jun 5, 2023 |
Speeding through Trollope is never wise: all of his books are long, drawn-out performances, where the various threads he weaves throughout eventually come together in the end—the characters of different social stations and statuses; the bickering families, neighbors, and parish members; and also the young men and women (typically, the latter) who defy gender norms and conventions, but who, by the novels’ ends, adhere to a Victorian readership’s expectations and satisfy their sense of closure, of right made wrong, of good triumphing over evil.

But this is to overlook Trollope’s greatest strength as a novelist: he never condemns those who have transgressed against social norms; he doesn’t join the neighbors who gossip, spread rumor, and cast stones. In each of Trollope’s characters—both the worthy and the unworthy—we see facets of human nature, and, in turn, we see shimmer of ourselves, to be examined and never judged. In short, Trollope recognizes that all of us are as capable of evil as well as of good, and he explores the thin line that divides what society and culture would view as extremes, and which he views as humanity merely toeing the line.

As the fifth book in the Chronicles of Barsetshire series, The Small House at Allington casts a much smaller net than its predecessors, and, from what I recall, from the finale that follows. Whereas The Warden began the series on a somewhat tentative note, almost unsure of itself or where it stood (standalone book or part of a series?), Trollope’s ventures from Barchester Towers—the most widely-read of Trollope’s novels, perhaps, and not a good indication of his scope, as I wrote in my linked review—to Doctor Thorne, and from Framley Parsonage (perhaps the most successful thus far of the series; see my review there) to this title show a steady progress toward the world-building of the fictional Barsetshire: to be sure, the reader who tackles these books in order will be a much happier reader for the dipping in and out of myriad characters from previous volumes, many of whose backstories Trollope takes for granted that one knows.

While the second through the fourth books highlight how skilled Trollope is at assembling a wide range of characters and having plots, subplots, and even sub-subplots abound, all of which intersect around a certain character or a problem (usually money or marriage), The Small House at Allington is much smaller in scope, dealing almost solely with the same group of characters before, during, and after the young, beautiful, but immensely annoying Lily Dale is jilted by Adolphous Crosbie for a woman of rank and, so he thinks, money: the Lady Alexandrina de Courcy. In her introduction to the lovely new Oxford editions of the series, Dinah Birch notes that this was the most popular of the Barsetshire books for Victorian readers (it was even viewed by Trollope as such: “I do not think that I have ever done better work,” he wrote in An Autobiography), but she does note that today the novel “divides its readers, and the character of Lily Dale has always been the central point of contention.”

Allington's world is a much bleaker world than we see in the other Barsetshire novels: characters don’t change much here; they don’t learn much in their toils or troubles; they don’t succeed, triumph, or mature in ways that readers of Trollope expect from his always psychologically-astute characters. And, in some ways, that is this book’s strength: it categorically refuses to give readers what they expect from a novel, what they have grown accustomed to expect from a certain author, and, as such, Trollope can take liberties that he has not before. While Lily Dale’s jilting is the central concern around which numerous characters revolve, some of the more interesting characters get a bit more room in the spotlight, largely because they at least set plot points in motion or slowly begin to develop and mature: the “hobbledehoy” John Eames, who is trying to make his way in the London world of business and busyness, longing all the while for his childhood sweetheart, Lily Dale; Crosbie, who has won Lily’s heart but who has his own selfish desire for power and wealth in mind when he jilts her; Mrs. Dale, who is a fascinating study of motherhood and female power (as well as restraint) in dealing with widowhood, bringing up two daughters alone, and being forced to live off the “generosity” of her dead husband’s family; Mrs. Roper, who runs a boarding house in London with some questionable tenants (one of whom is her own daughter); and earls, squires, ladies, and lords galore. Unlike the previous books in the series, though, Trollope fails here to fully unite these refracted characters’ experiences; and, as a result, the novel does not read as well thought-out or as well-plotted as his others. Indeed, there are even three or four chapters on Plantagenet Palliser’s dangerous liaison with Lady Griselda Dumbello (whom one will recall from earlier Barsetshire novels) which seem to add nothing to the main plot here at all; Trollope was working on the Palliser series’ first book, Can You Forgive Her?, as he was writing Allington, and appears to have got some of his signals crossed.

I do still strongly recommend that those new to Trollope begin with his lesser-known, but wonderfully executed, The Claverings (you can read my review there).

Still… yet still… ah, still, still… There is nothing quite like spending a month immersed in a 600-or-more page Trollope. It is very much like a holiday, getting acquainted and reacquainted with characters; getting close to them, seeing them flaws and all and being almost as nonjudgmental as the narrator/author is about their deeds and misdeeds. It opens one’s eyes to human nature in microcosm, and forces one to see things in oneself that one might prefer to keep buried or cloaked in shadow. Allington is very much the bridge to the finale of the series, and I look forward to revisiting that before the year’s end, before I take my leave of Barsetshire for the world of the Pallisers. ( )
  proustitute | Apr 2, 2023 |
There is a Great House at Allington, occupied by Squire Dale, a bachelor lord, and there is a Small House at Allington, that he has given to the use of his brother’s widow and her two girls. I very much like Squire Dale, who tries to do well and be fair to everyone and gets too little credit for it, particularly from those for whom he has so provided. He is awkward and insecure when it comes to expressing his emotions toward his nieces, as might be expected from a man who is a confirmed bachelor and has no children of his own, but this awkwardness leads sometimes to a very unfortunate misunderstanding of the man.

The girls in question, Lily and Bell Dale, are privileged in many ways and poverty stricken in others. They are proud, but also quite naive, particularly when it comes to love and marriage. Enter a group of young men, Adolphus Crosbie, Bernard Dale, Johnny Eames and John Crofts. To say the path of true love never did run smooth is an understatement. No one gets a smooth ride in this novel. There are also the worldly considerations of position and career and the practice of maintaining appearance at whatever cost, themes that Trollope always addresses so beautifully.

Trollope is a witty writer, often making me pause to laugh; and he is an astute writer, often making me stop to think. He reminds me that the more things change the more they remain the same, for his Victorian characters, in the way they feel, could be easily found today.

I could give you the names of some of these people:

Oh, deliver us from the poverty of those who, with small means, affect a show of wealth!

And, heavens I hope this is true, for it often appears that people get away with the unkindness and evil they sow.:

Those who offend us are generally punished for the offence they give; but we so frequently miss the satisfaction of knowing that we are avenged!

And bits of wisdom regarding how the heart works:

It is the view which the mind takes of a thing which creates the sorrow that arises from it. If the heart were always malleable and the feelings could be controlled, who would permit himself to be tormented by any of the reverses which affection meets? Death would create no sorrow, ingratitude would lose its sting; and the betrayal of love would do no injury beyond that which it might entail upon worldly circumstances. But the heart is not malleable; nor will the feelings admit of such control.

This is one of Trollope’s best, although I cannot find fault with a single one of the books in this series. I have the final installment to read and I am hoping that Trollope will have something to say about the future of a few of the characters in this book.




( )
  mattorsara | Aug 11, 2022 |
Slow building, rather unambitious book. I'd say the value here is the minute character examination of Crosby and Eames. Both flawed, but attractive leads. Crosby- smart, up and coming, man about town - everyone wants a piece of him due to his sheen and he falls for our heroine- Lily Dale, she the daughter of the "small house". He proposes, but quickly learn that she has to have nothing of the estate (nothing! shocking) and so he worries about funding. He quickly turns to Alexandrina Courcey, daughter of an earl (!) and proposes to her too (the cad!). Yes, he dumps poor Lily, and finally Eames catches up with Crosby on a train and gives him a good punch in the eye. How that punch is magnified and gloried in for chapters and chapters and pages and pages in this book- whoa! Crosby does marry the grand Alexandrina, but he gets little glory out of it and we see him ruing his choice for the rest of the book. Eames is another mixed character bag. True to Lily all the way except for giving into quick fun with the daughter of a gal at his rooming house- she traps him and he speaks of love and even kisses the tease to seal the deal. He must maneuver his way out of her clutches, but happily he is also a good brave soul (remember that punch? ) who even saves some nearby rich titled fellow from his prize bull going crazy and nearly killing him. Because of that, we know he is due to become rich and successful. But can he get away from the tease and find his way to his true Lily, so treacherously tossed over by the Crosby. You'll have to read to find out. Still- both of these leads are interesting, attractive but pretty well flawed- which is interesting. I also greatly enjoy the dynamic between the Squire of the big house of allington and his widowed sister in law (of the small house). He is presented rather unpleasantly - gruff, isolated and snobby - but slowly revealed to have a heart of gold and just a bit socially awkward. ( )
1 vote apende | Jul 12, 2022 |
Trollope once again casts a thousand characters doing almost nothing in this sort of 19th century parlor drama. We get all worked up about various matrimonial and career prospects all centered around that Small House that really isn't in Barsetshire. The main caterwauling is about Mrs. Dale and her two daughters and whether anybody will actually get up the nerve to say what they really want marriage-wise. We're on the edge of our seats as the suspense builds. After about 600 pages half the young people are disappointed in their amours and especially Lily Dale is held up as a model woman because she stays "true" to her rakish and self-centered lover, that "swell" Mr. Crosbie who spurns her for a more financially sound mate. As our gorge rises thinking about good women that know their proper place and duty it finally all finishes and nobody moves out of the Small House.

Trollope likes to make fun of class distinctions but can't quite find a way to really give it up in the end so we're never really sure if he's just fooling. The end would be truly sad except in 19th century fashion Lily just suffers honorably instead of trying to get what she wants even when everyone else throws it in front of her. You want to strangle her just so she'll quit letting herself be the victim. I'm glad I don't live back then or in England even now.

Great fun for the Upstairs-Downstairs, Downton Abbey crowd. I actually find it more fun to read than watch this sort of thing. ( )
  Gumbywan | Jun 24, 2022 |
Well, that went places I didn't expect. Nothing much happens in this novel - it is more character studies. But id did not end as I expected - kudos to Trollope for that. I don't know why these novels work for me but they do. ( )
  infjsarah | Apr 25, 2022 |
The penultimate novel in Trollope’s Barsetshire series, this novel primarily concerns the Dale family:, although it also introduces us to Plantagenet Pallister, the heir to the mighty Duke of Omnium and to hi soon-to-be-wife, Lady Glencora, who will be the main characters in Trollope’s multi-volume political novels.

In this book, the widowed Mrs. Dale and her two daughters Bele & Lily, live in the house of the title rent free as a gift of Mrs. Dale’s much wealthier brother-in-law, the Squire. Bell is being pursued by the squire’s nephew, Bernard (romances of first cousins seemingly very common in these novels) and Lily is worshiped from afar by John Eames, who is seeking his fortune in London.

At the beginning of the novel, Bernard arrives for a visit t his uncle with his friend, Adolphus Crosbie. Crosbie is handsome and charming and soon makes an attachment to Lily. However, upon learning that she will have no dowery from her uncle, the squire, he goes for a visit to the De Cousey family in Barsetshire where the Countess de Courcy views him as fair game and a viable match for her only single daughter still of marriageable age, Alexandrina, and he ends up jilting Lily for what he perceives as greener pastures with an Earl’s daughter.

Lily is heartbroken, but feels that as she still loves Crosbie, she must refuse the much more honorable Mr. Eames and remain true to the lover who has spurned her. Bell also resists the entreaties of Bernard and finds true happiness with the local doctor.

As always, Trollope know the society that he is writing about and the book is full of insights into life in Victorian England as well as subtle humor to the many foibles of his characters. This book is a doorstop, but well worth your time. ( )
  etxgardener | Jun 12, 2021 |
I think I liked this book the least of the series. For one thing, Allington isn’t even in Barsetshire, and so most of the colorful characters from the previous novels don’t reappear, except for the members of the de Courcy family. I was also frustrated trying to figure out Mr. Crosbie’s motives – both for making and breaking the engagement. I also think it's safe to say that "friend-zoning" is nothing new.

At least to me, these characters seemed the least like real people in the entire series so far, and the ending just didn’t really seem satisfying in any sense. I stuck with the book primarily because I wanted to be able to follow the next novel in the series, which Trollope regarded as one of his best works. Plus, there are six books in the series and this is the fifth, so at this point giving up on the series really wouldn’t make a lot of sense – and the book wasn’t that bad.

And there were good parts as well. As usual, Trollope was right on the money when it came to describing our views of beauty, substance, and celebrity when he described Lady Dumbello as, “given to smile when addressed, but her usual smile was meaningless, almost leaden, and never in any degree flattering to the person to whom it was accorded” and as contributing “nothing to society but her cold, hard beauty, her gait, and her dress” but adding that “we may say that she contributed enough, for society acknowledged itself to be deeply indebted to her.” Ouch.

Other redeeming factors:

Mr. Crosbie’s brief encounter and conversation with Mr. Harding in Barchester

Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glencora (of the Palliser series, also by Trollope) are introduced

Another name for the win: Major Fiasco

Trollopian style

Good quotes:

“It is sometimes easier to life a couple of hundredweights than to raise a few thoughts in one’s mind…”

“…but now, even already, although the possession to which he had looked was not yet garnered, he was beginning to tell himself that the thing was not worth possessing.”

“Alexandrina of course carried her point, the countess reflecting with a maternal devotion equal almost to that of the pelican, that the earl could not do more than kill her.”

“Oh, deliver us from the poverty of those who, with small means, affect a show of wealth! There is no whitening equal to that of sepulchers whited as they are whited!”

“To have loved truly, even though you shall have loved in vain, will be a consolation when you are as old as I am. It is something to have had a heart.” ( )
  Jennifer708 | Mar 23, 2020 |
I think I liked this book the least of the series. For one thing, Allington isn’t even in Barsetshire, and so most of the colorful characters from the previous novels don’t reappear, except for the members of the de Courcy family. I was also frustrated trying to figure out Mr. Crosbie’s motives – both for making and breaking the engagement. I also think it's safe to say that "friend-zoning" is nothing new.

At least to me, these characters seemed the least like real people in the entire series so far, and the ending just didn’t really seem satisfying in any sense. I stuck with the book primarily because I wanted to be able to follow the next novel in the series, which Trollope regarded as one of his best works. Plus, there are six books in the series and this is the fifth, so at this point giving up on the series really wouldn’t make a lot of sense – and the book wasn’t that bad.

And there were good parts as well. As usual, Trollope was right on the money when it came to describing our views of beauty, substance, and celebrity when he described Lady Dumbello as, “given to smile when addressed, but her usual smile was meaningless, almost leaden, and never in any degree flattering to the person to whom it was accorded” and as contributing “nothing to society but her cold, hard beauty, her gait, and her dress” but adding that “we may say that she contributed enough, for society acknowledged itself to be deeply indebted to her.” Ouch.

Other redeeming factors:

Mr. Crosbie’s brief encounter and conversation with Mr. Harding in Barchester

Plantagenet Palliser and Lady Glencora (of the Palliser series, also by Trollope) are introduced

Another name for the win: Major Fiasco

Trollopian style

Good quotes:

“It is sometimes easier to life a couple of hundredweights than to raise a few thoughts in one’s mind…”

“…but now, even already, although the possession to which he had looked was not yet garnered, he was beginning to tell himself that the thing was not worth possessing.”

“Alexandrina of course carried her point, the countess reflecting with a maternal devotion equal almost to that of the pelican, that the earl could not do more than kill her.”

“Oh, deliver us from the poverty of those who, with small means, affect a show of wealth! There is no whitening equal to that of sepulchers whited as they are whited!”

“To have loved truly, even though you shall have loved in vain, will be a consolation when you are as old as I am. It is something to have had a heart.” ( )
  Jennifer708 | Mar 23, 2020 |
A long novel but enjoyable every minute. David Shaw-Parker is an extraordinary narrator. I was sorry that the book came to an end. Looking forward to my next Trollope. ( )
  njcur | Jan 13, 2020 |
2019 reread via LibriVox recording:
I still don't like Lily Dale!
---------
Simon Vance does a marvelous job narrating this 5th entry in Trollope's Barsetshire series. Unfortunately, this novel is less amusing - more of a straightforward romance, with sickly sweet Lily Dale as the heroine. ( )
  leslie.98 | Jun 18, 2019 |
Continuing my leisurely reread of the Barchester series, I jumped ahead of Dr. Thorne and started reading this one. I last read it many years ago and remembered very little. It turns out to be a novel full of marriage plots and the consequences of falling in love and choosing (or refusing) to wed. Our central characters, inhabitants of the title dwelling, are Isabel and Lily Dale, two sisters who lived with their widowed mother in the small grace-and-favour house owned by their uncle, Squire Dale, of Allington. Bell and Lily are lovely, charming, and completely appealing. Bell is the practical one, Lily is the impulsive and intense one. Bell refuses to marry her cousin, Bernard, who is the Squire's heir, while Lily falls madly in love with dashing man about town Crosbie, who comes down to Allington with Bertrand.

But Crosbie is unworthy of Lily; as soon as he discovers that the Squire is not going to settle money on Lily, he becomes dissatisfied with the situation and finds himself drawn to Lady Alexandrina, one of the younger daughters of the horrible de Courcy family. He jilts Lily, and it looks as if Lily and Bell might wind up living with their mother forever, and even moving from the Small House because of the Squire's apparent displeasure at Bell's intransigence where Bernard is concerned.

As always, Trollope draws his characters with equal parts acuity and sympathy Even the awful Lady Alexandrina, whom he spares not at all, is rendered in a complex way (she's not complex, but her depiction is). The Squire is a man who feels strongly but is most comfortable expressing his negative emotions and suppressing his positive ones, and his interactions with Mrs. Dale and her daughters are beautifully done.

The subplots involve Johnny Eames, a low-level civil servant who is in love with Lily, and his travails in London, and also Crosby's London life. Trollope contrasts the career tracks of these young men with their personal travails; each ascends in one as he descends in the other, and we get to read about the bureaucratic antics of the wonderfully named Mr. Optimist, Sir Raffle Buffle, and others.

Lily Dale is hated by many readers, and it's easy to understand why. She treats her jilting as comparable to widowhood and continues to hold on to her love for a man who in no way deserved it. It's annoying, but the way I read it was that having given herself and her emotions to Crosbie so thoroughly, Lily couldn't justify her behavior unless it was based on an undying love. It's a kind of strange but fascinating characterization.

I enjoyed all 826 pages, but that's a lot of Dale to spend time with, especially Lily. I'll go backward to Dr. Thorne next, before sinking in to the brilliance of the last installment. ( )
  Sunita_p | May 17, 2019 |
Longer than the previous tales of Barsetshire life as some of the action moves to London ahead of the Palliser novels. This is an odd story where the main characters are mostly flawed, priggish and generally unlikable while the peripheral characters deliver both the humour and the pathos. I do like the idea that young people can be woefully wrongheaded about love and wont to screw everything up in the shortest amount of time. The course of love does not run smooth in this novel but it was just as entertaining, regardless. ( )
  asxz | Mar 13, 2019 |
Constancy is the word of the day in 'The Small House at Allington' (1864). There are, of course, dozens of characters and motives and several subplots, but the main thrust of the book comes from hobbledehoy Johnny Eames and his love since early childhood, Lily Dale. Unfortunately for Johnny, Lily has been offered, and accepted, a marriage proposal from man of fashion and all-around stud Adolphus Crosbie.

There is some background necessary. Lily is a Dale. The Dales of Allington are an ancient family, etc., etc. who are known for their unswerving character. The current Squire, Christopher Dale, was rejected in love and thus decided to never marry. One brother of his eloped with the daughter of a nearby Earl and the other married a respectable woman with little money. I don't need to explain to you which was the worse match.

The youngest brother's death left Mrs. Dale with her small means and two daughters, Belle and Lily. In their interest Mrs. Dale accepted the offer of living in the "small house" rent-free. The squire was pleased to give his nieces attention and presents and other favors to their advantage, but failed to extend any affection to their mother. She feels obligated to refuse his cold invitations to join them for dinner, etc. Her life is often a lonely one, but to her it is a price worth paying. His nieces, observing this, are fond enough of their uncle, but keep their own distance.

We have now on both sides of the family an obstinacy that gets in the way of their happiness. The novel begins when Adolphus Crosbie joins his friend Bernard Dale, the son of the other brother and heir to the estate, on a summer's visit to Allington. He falls in love with Lily, and thinking she will have a marriage settlement from her uncle, proposes marriage. There is no settlement. To marry on the several hundred pounds a year of his current income would mean disaster to his career and his important position at the center of other ladies' drawing rooms. Lily senses his distress and offers freely to let him go, despite her love for him, but he refuses. While he remains at Allington he goes forward with the engagement. He does cut his visit short by a week to accept an invitation from the Countess to De Courcy Castle where her so very eligible daughter Lady Alexandrina could see him.

It is obvious. From the moment Crosbie was introduced as something like the most decorative man in London the reader knows that Lily Dale and her zero pounds stands not a chance, no matter how lively and sweet she is. Trollope is sympathetic to all concerned in the matter, he explains the good intentions, the unwillingness of the characters to cause each other pain at each and every moment they cut each other deepest.

But there's Johnny Eames! He has only offered a small sentence or two to her confessing his deep feelings for her, and she acknowledges them, but she cannot tear herself from the thought of Crosbie. She had professed to love him for eternity and eternity it will be. Eames has his own problems brewing - he's been a little too free with the disgracefully free Amelia Roper, daughter of his landlady - but he has everything in him of the great man, if he could just get over the hurdles of youth without tripping. Events and most of the cast of the novel conspire to bring Johnny and Lily together, will they? won't they? Trollope's triumph here was in making me wish for the inevitable and then denying it to me. By the end of the novel as he sits eating his pork chop - how one eats is so very revealing - the reader knows.

I have cut this novel down to nothing. One subplot touched on the Grantleys and introduced Plantagenet Palliser of Trollope's other great series, the Palliser novels or the Parliamentary Chronicles. Society has chosen to believe he is having an affair with the serene Lady Griselda Dumbello (née Grantley) who married so magnificently in Framley Parsonage. This leads Palliser to wonder that if society believes it, why not give it a try?

Is constancy in love is a virtue? The Victorians had no qualms about moralizing, but occasionally, as here, the medicine goes down smoothly.

Next: The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867)

or Can You Forgive Her? (1865), if I want to leave Barchester for awhile. ( )
  ManWithAnAgenda | Feb 18, 2019 |
Mrs. Dale and her two daughters, Bell and Lily, live in the small house at Allington thanks to the generosity of their brother-in-law and uncle, Squire Dale, who lives in the big house at Allington sometimes with his nephew Bernard. Bernard's friend, Adolphus Crosbie, courts Lily; she falls in love with him and they become engaged to marry. But Crosbie betrays Lily by becoming engaged to an aristocratic, but poor, de Courcy. Lily is heartbroken but in the end forgives Crosbie, leading me to want to slap her. Meanwhile, a local young man (who is working as a clerk in London), John Eames, has been in love with Lily since his childhood. A chance encounter saving a local earl from a rampaging bull earns him the undying gratitude of the earl, Lord de Guest (and his sister), which is not insignificant.

As with all books by Trollope, there are many subplots involving lots of other characters, and many complications ensue. I am eager to read the final volume of this series.
  rebeccanyc | Jul 12, 2016 |
Wonderful Victorian fiction set among landowners, minor gentry & civil servants. Good character with realistic foibles.
Read Apr 2007 ( )
  mbmackay | Dec 6, 2015 |
Trollope's fifth book in The Chronicles of Barsetshire involves a love triangle. The three main characters are the handsome but unlikeable Adolphus Crosbie; Trollope's hero of the story, John Eames; and Lily Dale, love interest of Crosbie and Eames. There is no happy ever after, tied up with a bow, for these three characters. As with other books by Trollope, there are many wonderful characters. I really liked Lily's mother and sister, Mrs. Dale & Bell, and Squire Dale, Mrs Dale's brother-in-law. Lord De Guest was a particular favorite. There are many characters who had been introduced in previous books - the Courcy Castle with its many unhappy occupants, the Grantleys, and Mr. Harding of The Warden. Plantagenet Palliser, of the Palliser series, is introduced in this book, as he flits, unsuccessfully, like a moth around the flame that is the self important Lady Dumbello, we knew her as Griselda Grantley in earlier books. There are subplots involving a romance for Lily's sister Bell, about the careers of Crosbie and Eames, as well as the boarding house and its colorful residents where Johnny Eames resides. Trollope writes great women characters who have minds of their own. Although, I would have liked to slap Lily Dale several times while reading the book. I love when Trollope adds his asides, as here whenever John Eames was about to make a wrong move he would interject, "Oh, Johnny!, or if the misstep was particularly unfortunate, "Oh, Johnny Eames!.

My only criticism might be that because Trollope wrote these books as serials, there is sometimes a little bit of repetition as he "retells" something from an earlier chapter. I highly recommend this series. ( )
1 vote NanaCC | Sep 28, 2015 |
This one was a bit more melodramatic than I've gotten used to with the Barsetshire books, but I liked it nonetheless. ( )
  JBD1 | Sep 21, 2015 |
This is one of the best books I have ever read, and Trollope is now a writer beloved by me. There are love stories here and young ladies who are of an age to marry. There are main characters that I care about, especially the sisters Lily and Bell Dale, their uncle Squire Christopher Dale, and Bernard who is their cousin and heir to the Squire's estate. One man betrays an innocent young lady and deserves a thrashing. Will he receive one? The story is written in the 1850s and that is the setting of the novel. As several men observe, thirty years ago a duel would have been called, but that time was past. An Earl begins a friendship with a young man who saved the Earl's life from an attack by a bull. The Courcy Castle dysfunctional family plays a big role in this novel. If you have read the Palliser novels or seen the tv series, Plantagenet Palliser is introduced in this novel when he visits Courcy Castle. The Small House at Allington is the fifth book in The Chronicles of Barsetshire, and I suggest reading the books in order, beginning with The Warden. ( )
  hangen | Jul 30, 2015 |
(9) Another chunky installment of 'The Barsetshire Chronicles,' the 5th to be exact. Trollope introduces us to yet again another case of characters who live in the English countryside in the vicinity of Barsetshire. There are a few whom we have met before, mainly the group at De Courcy Castle (The Gresham's snobby, ghastly relations from 'Dr. Thorne') as well as Laby Dombello, formerly known as Griselda Grantly. But mainly these are new people. Adolphus Crosbie, the grasping socialite, whose star is on the rise and Lily Dale, the unfortunate young girl to whom he decides to propose although she is poor. He is temporarily dazzled by her beauty and gaiety, as well as expecting her childless uncle the Earl of Something or Other to provide for her. Crosbie regrets his decision almost instantly as he thinks about his straightened life in London married to a poor country girl . . . and then it all falls apart. Worse for Crosbie in the end then Lily Dale.

I quite agree with Trollope himself in regards to Lilly's character although apparently she was beloved at the time the novel was written. Who Lilly would ultimately marry was the big buzz in 186_ when the novel was published in serial form and apparently many disgruntled readers plagued Trollope with letters over the years. I liked this installment about as well as the others. Some parts were written deliciously miserable, such as the horror of Crosbie's eventual marriage. And some parts were not great - Eames adventures in London with the boarding house people were tiresome. It seemed a bit uneven, but easily readable. I am either getting accustomed to his style finally or this novel was less dense in terms of diction because I read it much faster despite its length.

I am enjoying the series but I am finding that I want more follow-up and interaction with all the characters that have come before. These really essentially are stand alone novels more so than a series per se and I find the lack of significant connection and story continuance a bit disappointing. I will definitely finish the series but doubt I will then move on to the 5 or 6 novels in his Palliser series. ( )
  jhowell | Mar 7, 2015 |
Lily Dale falls in love with Adolphus Crosbie and they become engaged. Then he jilts her and marries Alexandrina, the daughter of the Earl de Courcy. That is one strand of the story. Then there is John Eames, a clerk in the income tax office, who also loves Lily, but who nevertheless becomes entangled with Amelia, the daughter of his landlady. John has a colleague and fellow-lodger, Cradell, who flirts with the married Mrs Lupex. Lily has a sister, Bell, who refuses to marry her cousin and accepts instead a doctor, who has loved her for years. Griselda (nee Grantley) almost flirts with Plantagenet Palliser, but doesn't. This is a long novel and not all of the strands seemed to fit well together: in particular, some of the Lupex/Roper/Cradell characters seemed to have wandered in from a different novel.

I liked the Bell and Dr Crofts storyline, but it was a bit underwritten. All the scenes with the despicable Crosbie and his appalling in-laws were enjoyable. Lily was extremely annoying and needs to wake up to the fact that you can't go on loving someone like Crosbie and retain your mental health. John Eames was also rather tiresome, so maybe in the next book they will end up together and that would suit me. ( )
  pgchuis | Dec 12, 2014 |
The summary of this novel, which I read first, gave away a surprising amount of the story. In all honesty I think Trollope’s novels are less about the plot than they are about the social interaction and moral development of the characters, so it didn’t really bother me.

"Engaged to the ambitious and self-serving Adolphus Crosbie, Lily Dale is devastated when he jilts her for the aristocratic Lady Alexandrina. Although crushed by his faithlessness, Lily still believes she is bound to her unworthy former fiancé for life and therefore condemned to remain single after his betrayal. And when a more deserving suitor pays his addresses, she is unable to see past her feelings for Crosbie.”

The Dale women, Lily and her sister Bell and their mother, were wonderful. At their core all they want is for the others to find true happiness. They are fiercely protective of each other and their wishes. Some of my favorite scenes in the book are when they stand up for the decisions someone in their family has made, without asking any questions of each other. Lily talks to the local doctor, James Crofts, in an effort to secure happiness for her sister. Their mother talks to the girls’ uncle about a potential match but refuses to force or encourage her daughter to make the match against her will. They are strong women who refuse to betray each other for a shot at money or luxury.

I keep finding shades of Austen in all of the Trollope I read. Both authors share similar themes and styles, though Austen's work has a bit more bite. This one reminded me so much of Sense and Sensibility. Bell is like Eleanor, steady and logical. Lily is brasher and reminded me so much of Marianne. She falls in love with an unworthy man, turning down someone who would truly be a great match. Unfortunately for Lily, unlike Marianne she never quite recovers from that love.

The girls’ mother is an interesting character as well. She struggles with whether she's done right by her children, even though they love her dearly. She worries that they are possibly giving up opportunities out of a loyalty to her. It's the endless struggle of any parents, constantly asking yourself if you’re making the best choices for your kids.

The male characters in this novel are a mixed bag. Eames is a worthy man, I found myself rooting for him. The girls’ uncle is harsh and struggles to connect with them. He does love them, but that feeling is wrapped deep within his other layers of formality and stiffness. He has such a hard time conveying his feelings and his actions often come across as obligation instead of love. Crosbie is just a jerk, to put it nicely. I wanted to smack him and he deserved his fate.

Side note: We also get to see Griselda again and it’s a bit tragic to see what her life has become.

One of the books best lines comes from Lily’s mother’s reaction when her daughter is jilted by Crosbie:

“Mrs. Dale had felt in her heart that it would be well if Crosbie could be beaten until all his bones were sore.”

My only real complaint about this one was that I wanted something better for Lily. I wanted her to find love. I wanted her to realize that she deserved someone better than Crosbie. I wanted a happy ending for her because it seemed like the novel was begging for one! It’s definitely not that I think everyone needs to be married to be happy, but it felt like she gave up on pursuing any happiness in some misplaced sense of loyalty for a man that didn’t deserve her.

BOTTOM LINE: Another delightful read. It’s not my favorite of the series, but I once again enjoyed being lost in Trollope’s world of Barsetshire. ( )
  bookworm12 | Aug 11, 2014 |
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Penguin Australia

2 editions of this book were published by Penguin Australia.

Editions: 0140433252, 0141199652

 

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