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A review by jeet_the_maiden
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope
4.0
If there was a drinking game for every time someone in the Greshams' family said "marry money", we'd be drunk in every single chapter!
The premise of the story involves sundered lovers - Frank the squire's son and Mary Thorne, illegitimate daughter and niece of the doctor of Greshamsbury, who's also a Thorne of Ullathorne. Frank has come of age but cannot marry the girl he loves because a) She's not of "proper" birth b) She has no fortune at all. She's lovely, bright, well behaved and aware of her lack of lineage.
Right from the day he comes of age, Frank's mother Lady Arabella insists he marry a rich girl. To her it doesn't matter if she's not born high as long as she brings in enough dowry to save the Greshams from utter financial ruin. His father, the squire had to sell off large properties belonging to the "first family of Greshamsbury", and Trollope slyly brings notice to the fact that damning your family into high debt must be acceptable because you could stand to bring about more money by marrying rich.
Frank frequently battles his family with the righteous logic that money shouldn't buy high birth, since that's the metric they pester him with constantly but therein lies the double standard, that marriage to a woman of lesser birth is fine as long as she has enough money to erase her background. But in no case do they accept his decision to marry Mary Thorne, his mother going as far as to ban her daughters from meeting her anywhere. She even refuses to allow Dr Thorne to continue the treatment of her breast cancer because he wouldn't stop the lovers from loving each other. Also, it is very rare for a woman's disease to find even a mention in Victorian writing, so Trollope should get props for this!
Dr Thorne is an intelligent, wise uncle; he doesn't try to influence the lovers by giving any kind of opinion either way, because right from the start the reader is informed that Mary is his brother's child; she's rightfully a Thorne but her mother was from a working class family from the village who bore her as a result as a brief and fatal momentary affair. So her birth is not so much an issue as is her lack of dowry, especially in this case where the Greshams simply cannot afford to marry without money. (Take another shot).
Trollope writes very well of the double standards when it comes to marriage. The parents' concern about the lovers not finding an income to live upon is valid, but that doesn't deter Frank, he steadfast and committed to marrying none but Mary.
Trollope's stories always have a secondary track of characters that are entwined with the first - here it's Mary's maternal uncle Sir Roger Scatcherd whose self made fortune plays a huge role in bringing the story to its head. Most of the main characters are not privy to the family secret which is the plot motif!
Again, it was intensely delightful to listen to the Audible narration by Timothy West - he evokes snooty countesses, rich spoiled sons, earnest women and youthful lovers in an exceptional manner.
I'm now aware that there's a TV series on this book with Tom Hollander as the eponymous Dr Thorne and Alison Brie as a smart female character (with loads of money made from the manufacture of the Ointment of Lebanon) who refuses to get married to just anyone who asks her. This type of character is a frequent repeat in Trollope's works - the woman with keen understanding, some form of agency, wise in her ways and thankfully supporting love instead of blind adherence to societal norms.
A very good read with humour and sound observation.
This was the third novel in the Barchester novels, there are some recurring characters but they find a very brief mention here.
The premise of the story involves sundered lovers - Frank the squire's son and Mary Thorne, illegitimate daughter and niece of the doctor of Greshamsbury, who's also a Thorne of Ullathorne. Frank has come of age but cannot marry the girl he loves because a) She's not of "proper" birth b) She has no fortune at all. She's lovely, bright, well behaved and aware of her lack of lineage.
Right from the day he comes of age, Frank's mother Lady Arabella insists he marry a rich girl. To her it doesn't matter if she's not born high as long as she brings in enough dowry to save the Greshams from utter financial ruin. His father, the squire had to sell off large properties belonging to the "first family of Greshamsbury", and Trollope slyly brings notice to the fact that damning your family into high debt must be acceptable because you could stand to bring about more money by marrying rich.
Frank frequently battles his family with the righteous logic that money shouldn't buy high birth, since that's the metric they pester him with constantly but therein lies the double standard, that marriage to a woman of lesser birth is fine as long as she has enough money to erase her background. But in no case do they accept his decision to marry Mary Thorne, his mother going as far as to ban her daughters from meeting her anywhere. She even refuses to allow Dr Thorne to continue the treatment of her breast cancer because he wouldn't stop the lovers from loving each other. Also, it is very rare for a woman's disease to find even a mention in Victorian writing, so Trollope should get props for this!
Dr Thorne is an intelligent, wise uncle; he doesn't try to influence the lovers by giving any kind of opinion either way, because right from the start the reader is informed that Mary is his brother's child; she's rightfully a Thorne but her mother was from a working class family from the village who bore her as a result as a brief and fatal momentary affair. So her birth is not so much an issue as is her lack of dowry, especially in this case where the Greshams simply cannot afford to marry without money. (Take another shot).
Trollope writes very well of the double standards when it comes to marriage. The parents' concern about the lovers not finding an income to live upon is valid, but that doesn't deter Frank, he steadfast and committed to marrying none but Mary.
Trollope's stories always have a secondary track of characters that are entwined with the first - here it's Mary's maternal uncle Sir Roger Scatcherd whose self made fortune plays a huge role in bringing the story to its head. Most of the main characters are not privy to the family secret which is the plot motif!
Again, it was intensely delightful to listen to the Audible narration by Timothy West - he evokes snooty countesses, rich spoiled sons, earnest women and youthful lovers in an exceptional manner.
I'm now aware that there's a TV series on this book with Tom Hollander as the eponymous Dr Thorne and Alison Brie as a smart female character (with loads of money made from the manufacture of the Ointment of Lebanon) who refuses to get married to just anyone who asks her. This type of character is a frequent repeat in Trollope's works - the woman with keen understanding, some form of agency, wise in her ways and thankfully supporting love instead of blind adherence to societal norms.
A very good read with humour and sound observation.
This was the third novel in the Barchester novels, there are some recurring characters but they find a very brief mention here.