Anthony TrollopeVerified

Trollope's quiet exploration of late-life love between an elderly widower and his ward challenges Victorian sentimentality by insisting that passion and dignity are not the exclusive province of youth. The novel finds heartbreak not in melodrama but in the collision between social propriety and genuine human need.

The fifth Chronicle of Barsetshire, about sisters Lily and Bell Dale, who live modestly on their uncle's estate. Lily accepts a proposal from the London gentleman Adolphus Crosbie, but social ambition leads to heartbreak, while Johnny Eames hopes to win her.