Castle Richmond [Paperback]

Anthony Trollope (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1419112295 | ISBN-13: 978-1419112294 | Publication Date: June 17, 2004

Among the different houses in the country at which he had become intimate was that of the Countess of Desmond. The Countess of Desmond did not receive much company at Desmond Court. She had not the means, nor perhaps the will, to fill the huge old house with parties of her Irish neighbours--for she herself was English to the backbone. Ladies of course made morning calls, and gentlemen too, occasionally; but society at Desmond Court was for some years pretty much confined to this cold formal mode of visiting. Owen Fitzgerald, however, did obtain admittance into the precincts of the Desmond barracks.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) started his writing career while working in Ireland as a postal surveyor. Travelling around the country, Trollope gained knowledge of the country and its people which proved to be useful material for his first two novels, The Macdermots of Ballycloran (1847) and The Kellys and the O'Kellys (1848). Trollope soon started writing fiercely, producing a series entitled Chronicles of Barsetshire. The Warden, the first in the series, was published in 1855. Barchester Towers (1857), the comic masterpiece, Doctor Thorne (1858), Framley Parsonage (1861), The Small House at Allington (1864) and The Last Chronicle of Barset (1867) followed, portraying events in an imaginary English county of Barsetshire. In 1867, Trollope left the Post Office to run as a candidate for the Parliament. Having lost at the elections, Trollope focused on his writing. A satire from his later writing, The Way We Live Now (1875) is often viewed as Trollope's major work, however, his popularity and writing reputation diminished at the later stage of his life. Anthony Trollope died in London in 1882. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 512 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (June 17, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1419112295
• ISBN-13: 978-1419112294
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,158,956 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"Anthony Trollope (1815-82) became one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of Trollope's best-loved works revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire, but he also wrote penetrating novels on political, social, and gender issues and
conflicts of his day."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trollope's Romance in Ireland, September 6, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: CASTLE RICHMOND 3VL (Ireland, from the Art of Union, 1800, to the death of Parnell, 1891) (Hardcover)

I would like to start this review by emphatically agreeing with the other reviewers of Trollope's fiction who say that this is an author that should be immediately re-discovered. Here is a man who created characters that we could not forget if we wanted. We see all sides of his creations, the good and the bad, and there are times when you might even feel empathy for the villians. How many authors can accomplish that?

Castle Richmond is Trollope's romance in Ireland set against the backdrop of the Great Famine. You might wonder if the famine sequences get in the way of the main plot. I certainly thought so myself until I read a brilliantly written chapter two-thirds of the way through the book in which one of the heroes of the story encounters a starving mother and her children. In five paragraphs the book takes on a whole new prespective. Suddenly our hero (and ourselves) become aware that happiness is a relative thing, not something that should be dictated by those we love and how much are in our purses. What an enlightening concept! Anyone who thinks that Trollope is out-dated need only focus on what he is saying in Castle Richmond to see what a truly modern thinker he really was.

Castle Richmond's main plot is a look at two upper class families: the Desmonds and the Fitzgeralds. We follow them through their lives, watching as love is gained and love is lost. We get a complete glimpse into the morals of these people; people who really feel they are doing right no matter who is hurt. I was amazed that the melancholy scenes were almost better written then the happy ones. And there are very few writers of that age and ours that write better dialogue than he.

I hope readers who have read Trollope's more popular works will take the time to read this novel. Trollope obviously loved Ireland immensely, and he need not apologize for setting his story in that country. The land, the people, the circumstances are completely displayed for us to enjoy. It is a comfort to walk in his world, through the path between the elms, through the hilly countryside. I thought more then once that I would go there like a shot if it was offered to me. And that, I believe, is the true magic of Trollope's work.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars TROLLOPE FANS - DON'T OVERLOOK THIS ONE!, October 16, 2002

By 

LINDA LEVEN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Castle Richmond: A Novel (Trollope, Penguin) (Paperback)

I RATE THIS A 5 STAR BOOK. AS USUAL, TROLLOPE WRITES SO WELL AND HOLDS YOUR ATTENTION FROM BEGINNING TO END.

THIS IS THE TALE OF 2 MEN IN LOVE WITH THE SAME WOMAN. THE FORTUNES OF THESE 2 MEN CONSTANTLY SHIFT THROUGHOUT THE STORY DUE TO A FAMILY INHERITANCE QUESTION - WHICH FORMS THE CENTRAL MYSTERY OF THE BOOK. AND AS THEIR FORTUNES CHANGE, THE MOTHER OF THE WOMAN WHOM BOTH LOVE, CONTINUES TO INTEFERE AND ATTEMPT TO SELL HER DAUGHTER'S HEART TO THE RICHEST BIDDER.

I'VE READ A LOT OF TROLLOPE, AND I WOULD RATE THIS ONE OF HIS FINEST. THE ONLY PART OF THE BOOK THAT I FOUND NOT THAT INTERESTING, WAS THE HISTORY PERTAINING TO THE GREAT IRISH FAMINE.NEVERTHELESS, IF YOU LIKE TROLLOPE, DO READ THIS ONE!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trollope fans, don't miss this one!, December 24, 2009

By 

Maggie Jarpey - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Castle Richmond (Paperback)

A powerful, powerful book! The Irish potato famine in a major player in this story, very interesting and very moving, and the main characters are very interesting and very moving as well, especially Owen Fitzgerald, a character I will never forget. This book stirred me emotionally as no other Trollope book has, and I've read many of them and loved many of them. But this one is in a class of its own. Incidentally, the father-and-son Mollett team provides some delicious humor to give the reader a break from the strong emotion produced by the telling of the potato famine. The portraits of Irish servants were wonderfully rendered--I could see and hear them, and I loved them.