Doctor Thorne: (Illustrated)

Doctor Thorne remains indisputably one of Trollope's greatest achievements. Paradoxically, it was not a favourite with its author, but then, as so often, he was a poor judge of his own work. Interestingly, the plot was devised not by the author but by his brother Tom with whom he was staying in Florence when, as he confessed, 'I was cudgelling my brain for a plot'. Frank Gresham is heir to Greshamsbury Court, once a very rich estate but now much depleted, mortgages on the estate being held ...