Lady Anna
'Lady Anna' Summary
Lady Anna is set during the 1830s, at about the time of the First Reform Act of 1832.
The title character is the daughter of the late Earl Lovel. Her mother married him out of ambition rather than love, and despite his evil reputation. Soon after their marriage, he told her that he had a living wife, which made their union invalid and their unborn daughter illegitimate. He then sailed to Italy without her and did not return to England for twenty years.
During those two decades, Lady Lovel struggled to prove the validity of her marriage, and consequently her right to her title and her daughter's legitimacy. She enjoyed neither the sympathy of the public nor the support of her family during this time; her only friend and supporter was Thomas Thwaite, a Radical tailor of Keswick, who gave her and her daughter shelter and financed her legal battles.
Early in the novel, Lord Lovel returns to England and dies intestate. His earldom, and a small estate in Cumberland, pass to a distant cousin, young Frederick Lovel. However, the bulk of his large fortune is personal property, and thus not attached to the title. If his marriage to Lady Lovel was valid, it will go to her and to their daughter; otherwise, it will go to the young earl.
The new earl's lawyers, headed by the Solicitor General, come to believe that their case against Lady Lovel is weak and their claim probably false. They accordingly propose a compromise: that the earl marry Lady Anna, thus reuniting the title and the assets held by her father. The plan is enthusiastically supported by Lady Lovel, as fulfilling all of her ambitions for herself and her daughter. The young earl is favorably impressed by Lady Anna's appearance and character. However, in her twenty years as an outcast, Lady Anna has come to love Thomas Thwaite's son Daniel, and the two have become secretly engaged.
When the engagement is known, Lady Lovel and others strive to break it. Lady Anna will not yield to persuasion or to mistreatment; Daniel Thwaite rejects arguments and bribes to end the relationship. Lady Anna is approaching her twenty-first birthday, after which she will be free to marry without her mother's consent. In desperation, Lady Lovel secures a pistol and attempts to murder Thwaite. She wounds but does not kill him; Thwaite refuses to name her to the police; and the attempt puts an effective end to her attempts to keep the two apart.
With Thwaite's consent, Lady Anna makes half of her fortune over to the young earl. She marries Thwaite with the public approval of the Lovel family, though Lady Lovel refuses to attend the ceremony. The two then emigrate to Australia, where they expect that his low birth and her title will no longer be a burden to them.
Book Details
Language
EnglishOriginal Language
EnglishPublished In
1874Author
Anthony Trollope
England
Anthony Trollope was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, which revolves ar...
More on Anthony TrollopeDownload eBooks
Listen/Download Audiobook
- Select Speed
Related books
Aurora Floyd Volume 2 by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
The story follows the protagonist, Aurora Floyd, as she navigates the complexities of Victorian society and confronts the consequences of her past act...
Murray's Adirondack Tales by William Henry Harrison Murray
Two delightful tales surrounding the adventures of John Norton, the Trapper. He gives us a good glimpse into life in the deep woods, and how he deals...
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1896 to 1901 by Lucy Maud Montgomery
Lucy Maud Montgomery was born at Clifton (now New London), Prince Edward Island, Canada, on November 30, 1874. She achieved international fame in her...
The Woman of the Wood by Abraham Merritt
The story follows a group of adventurers who set out to find a mysterious woman who is said to live in the heart of a dark and dangerous forest. Set...
A House of Gentlefolk by Ivan Turgenev
Home of the Gentry also translated as A Nest of the Gentlefolk, A Nest of the Gentry and Liza , is a novel by Ivan Turgenev published in the January 1...
The Forest Lovers by Maurice Henry Hewlett
The story revolves around a young knight, Richard Lanfranc, who falls in love with a mysterious forest-dwelling woman named Alisande. The Forest Lover...
An Outback Marriage by Andrew Barton Paterson
Imagine being forced to marry a stranger in the middle of the Australian outback, surrounded by nothing but red dust and wild animals. An Outback Mar...
Pointed Roofs: Pilgrimage, Volume 1 by Dorothy Richardson
"Pointed Roofs" is the first volume of "Pilgrimage," a series of thirteen autobiographical novels by Dorothy Richardson considered to have pioneered t...
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
After having a recurring dream of finding a treasure, Santiago, the shepherd, begins his life changing journey to the Pyramids of Egypt. The novel is...
Ruth by Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
Ruth is a young orphan girl working in a respectable sweatshop for the overworked Mrs Mason. She is selected to go to a ball to repair torn dresses. A...
Reviews for Lady Anna
No reviews posted or approved, yet...