Books by Anthony Trollope
“The Eustace Diamonds…is a great one to start off with, because, again, it’s one of those wonderful heroines, Lizzie Eustace. She is a wealthy widow and she wants to keep this valuable family necklace—the Eustace Diamonds—and insists that her husband gave it to her. The family are furious. They want it back because it’s an heirloom.” Read more...
The Best Anthony Trollope Books
Francesca Simon, Children's Author
“Miss Mackenzie is an old maid of 35. Poor Miss Mackenzie! She’s spent her previous years looking after ailing relatives—her father and her brother—and she gets left all this money. And she decides, ‘I want to live!’ So she goes to Bath with the intention of living and she eventually has three suitors. Trollope describes her as a thin and straggling old maid, but she’s grown into her looks a bit. Again, it’s about what she can hope for now, because she’s got money. Who’s an appropriate match?” Read more...
The Best Anthony Trollope Books
Francesca Simon, Children's Author
“The plot of The American Senator is about one of my favourite Trollope characters, Arabella Trefoil. Apparently, Edith Wharton based The House of Mirth’s Lily Bart on her. Arabella Trefoil is the impecunious niece of a duke and has been on the marriage market for 12 years. She’s been struggling to find someone appropriate. She’s tied to her mother who she hates. They’re always going to stay with people and way outstaying their welcome because they have no money. It’s just dreadful.” Read more...
The Best Anthony Trollope Books
Francesca Simon, Children's Author
“Other writers have tried to capture the world of high finance, and failed, because finance is abstract and complicated. Trollope succeeded because his real interest was in bringing to life the way that money could change human character. There’s nothing abstract or complicated about greed, vanity and weakness.” Read more...
The best books on Financial Speculation
John Gapper, Journalist
The West Indies and the Spanish Main
by Anthony Trollope
It is a vivid portrait of a lot of different places – Cuba, Jamaica, Trinidad, Nicaragua – and he had a great ability to describe people
“I think what he’s writing is a comedy of manners. But he’s also writing about the way the world is. He’s very alert to the changes in society, the Industrial Revolution and the declining power of the landed aristocracy, of which he was the poor cousin. He had to work. He’s the perfect person to be narrating these scenes. It is a real tapestry of Britain in the 19th century, but with a lot of things to say about our times as well. You learn a lot about life, really, and our lives, through reading someone like Trollope.” Read more...
The Best Anthony Trollope Books
Francesca Simon, Children's Author
“The Warden is interesting because, again, you don’t get that many books…that have an old man as the protagonist.” Read more...
Kathleen Taylor, Science Writer
Interviews where books by Anthony Trollope were recommended
The best books on Ageing, recommended by Kathleen Taylor
Old age. We all hope to reach it, but there are big differences between a ‘good’ old age and one beset by dementia or Alzheimer’s. Neuroscientist and science writer, Kathleen Taylor, talks us through the latest science on ageing and the literary works that can give us a clearer picture of what it’s all about.
The best books on Editing Newspapers, recommended by Peter Stothard
The Editor of The Times Literary Supplement discusses the changing history of the Newspaper Editor. Suggests further reading and highlights Peter Forster’s The Spike as the most accurate depiction of an editor’s work.
The Best 19th-Century Books
The 19th century was a golden age for books, with the flourishing of great realist novels, as well as epic adventure stories and what would turn out to be distinct genres, including sci-fi, horror, and mystery. It was also an important time for the history of ideas, with the publication of key books that would change the world, and how we view it, forever.
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1
The Eustace Diamonds
by Anthony Trollope -
2
A History of Britain, Volume III: The Fate of the Empire 1776–2000
by Simon Schama -
3
Beren and Lúthien
J R R Tolkien, Alan Lee (illustrator), Christopher Tolkien (editor) -
4
The Way We Live Now
by Anthony Trollope -
5
A Moment Towards the End of the Play
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6
Animal Farm
by George Orwell
Audiobooks Narrated by Timothy West
Audiobooks Narrated by Timothy West
As well as appearing in many plays and movies, the British actor Timothy West (1934-2024) was a great narrator of audiobooks. He narrated a large number of Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope’s works, as well as abridged versions of Simon Schama’s History of Britain, a three-volume work. Below, some of the books in his audiobook oeuvre (not all are easy to get hold of or are only available in some countries).
The Best Anthony Trollope Books, recommended by Francesca Simon
Anthony Trollope compared being a writer to being a cobbler and wrote highly readable novels that nonetheless exposed all our human foibles. Bestselling children’s author and Trollope enthusiast Francesca Simon explains her fascination with Anthony Trollope and recommends some of her favourite books by the Victorian novelist.
The Best Victorian Novels, recommended by John Sutherland
The Victorian era was a golden age for fiction, says Victorian literature specialist John Sutherland, Emeritus Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College London. He talks us through the some of the best novels written during the Victorian period, and what they reveal about the people who wrote them.
The Best Travel Books, recommended by Paul Theroux
Travel is a leap in the dark, says Paul Theroux and one that will leave you a different person at the other end. He recommends five travel books that inspired him, from Mark Twain at sea to VS Naipaul in India
Great Actors Read Great Novels
If you enjoy listening to books as audiobooks, it’s a great time to be alive. From Rosamund Pike narrating Pride and Prejudice, Jeremy Irons reading Lolita to Meryl Streep telling the story of Heartburn, many prominent actors have signed up for performing their favourite books in unabridged versions.
The best books on Financial Speculation, recommended by John Gapper
We all have a bit of the rogue trader in us. So says the chief business commentator of the FT, who tells us about the greed, vanity and weakness that can lead to financial disaster. He picks the best books on financial speculation.
