''Lady Anna'' is a novel by

Anthony Trollope Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) 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 ...

, written in 1871 and first published in book form in 1874. The protagonist is a young woman of noble birth who, through an extraordinary set of circumstances, has fallen in love with and become engaged to a tailor. The novel describes her attempts to resolve the conflict between her duty to her social class and her duty to the man she loves.

Plot 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 Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as ''b ...

. 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 Radical may refer to: Politics and ideology Politics *Radical politics, the political intent of fundamental societal change *Radicalism (historical), the Radical Movement that began in late 18th century Britain and spread to continental Europe and ...

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 Intestacy is the condition of the estate of a person who dies without having in force a valid will or other binding declaration. Alternatively this may also apply where a will or declaration has been made, but only applies to part of the estat ...

. His

earl Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. The title originates in the Old English word ''eorl'', meaning "a man of noble birth or rank". The word is cognate with the Scandinavian form ''jarl'', and meant "chieftain", particular ...

dom, and a small estate in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

, pass to a distant cousin, young Frederick Lovel. However, the bulk of his large fortune is

personal property property is property that is movable. In common law systems, personal property may also be called chattels or personalty. In civil law systems, personal property is often called movable property or movables—any property that can be moved fr ...

, 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.

Development and publication history

In 1871, Anthony and Rose Trollope sailed from England to Australia to visit their son Fred, who had settled at a sheep station near

Grenfell, New South Wales Grenfell is a town in Weddin Shire in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is west of Sydney. It is close to Forbes, New South Wales, Forbes, Cowra, New South Wales, Cowra and Young, New South Wal ...

. ''Lady Anna'' was written entirely at sea,Trollope, Anthony (1883).
''An Autobiography'', chapter 19.
Retrieved 2010-07-10. between 25 May and 19 July.Moody, Ellen.

Retrieved 2010-07-10. The novel was serialized in the ''

Fortnightly Review ''The Fortnightly Review'' was one of the most prominent and influential magazines in nineteenth-century England. It was founded in 1865 by Anthony Trollope, Frederic Harrison, Edward Spencer Beesly, and six others with an investment of £9,000; ...

'' between April 1873 and April 1874. It was published in two volumes by

Chapman & Hall Chapman & Hall is an imprint owned by CRC Press, originally founded as a British publishing house in London in the first half of the 19th century by Edward Chapman and William Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 1840 ...

in 1874. Trollope received £1200 for ''Lady Anna''; his other 1874 novels, ''

Phineas Redux ''Phineas Redux'' is a novel by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1873 as a serial in ''The Graphic''. It is the fourth of the " Palliser" series of novels and the sequel to the second book of the series, ''Phineas Finn''. Synopsis His belo ...

'' and '' Harry Heathcote of Gangoil'', earned him £2500 and £450 respectively. Beside the ''Fortnightly'', the novel was serialized in 1873–74 in the ''Australasian'', and in Russian translation in ''

Vestnik Evropy ''Vestnik Evropy'' (russian: Вестник Европы) (''Herald of Europe'' or ''Messenger of Europe'') was the major liberal magazine of late-nineteenth-century Russia. It was published from 1866 to 1918. The magazine (named for an earlier ...

''. In 1873, it was also published in book form by

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New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, by Hunter Rose of

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, by

Tauchnitz Tauchnitz was the name of a family of German printers and publishers. They published English language literature for distribution on the European continent outside Great Britain, including initial serial publications of novels by Charles Dickens. ...

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

, and in Russian as ''Lady Anna''.Tingay, Lance O (1985). ''The Trollope Collector''. London: The Silverbridge Press. p. 36. More recent editions have included one by Arno Press in 1981; editions by

Dover Dover () is a town and major ferry port in Kent, South East England. It faces France across the Strait of Dover, the narrowest part of the English Channel at from Cap Gris Nez in France. It lies south-east of Canterbury and east of Maidstone ...

and by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, the latter with an introduction and notes by

Stephen Orgel Stephen Orgel is Professor of English at Stanford University. Best known as a scholar of Shakespeare, Orgel writes primarily about the political and historical context of Renaissance literature. Orgel received his B.A. from Columbia University in ...

, in 1984; and one by the Trollope Society in 1990.

Adaptation

A play by Craig Baxter, ''Lady Anna: All at Sea'', combining the plot of the novel and the story of Trollope's writing it while voyaging to Australia, was commissioned by the Trollope Society as part of the 2015 Trollope Bicentennial Celebrations. It was presented at London's Park Theatre in 2015.Norman, Neil.
"Review: Lady Anna: All At Sea at the Park Theatre".''Express''.
2015-08-28. Retrieved 2016-04-02.

References

External links

''Lady Anna''
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University of Adelaide Library''Lady Anna''
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Project Gutenberg
* {{Anthony Trollope 1874 British novels Novels by Anthony Trollope Works originally published in The Fortnightly Review Novels first published in serial form Novels set in the 1830s Novels set in Cumbria Chapman & Hall books