Miss Mackenzie [Paperback]

Anthony Trollope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 6, 2003

In Miss Mackenzie Trollope made a deliberate attempt 'to prove that a novel may be produced without any love, but as he candidly admits in his Autobiography, the attempt "breaks down before the conclusion." In taking for his heroine a middle-aged spinster, Trollope chose to go against the custom followed by himself and his contemporaries of writing about young girls in love.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

As young adult, Trollope endured seven years of poverty in the General Post Office in London before accepting a better-paying position as postal surveyor in Banagher, Ireland in 1841. The years in Ireland formed the basis of his second career delineating clerical life in small cathedral towns. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 396 pages
• Publisher: Fredonia Books (NL) (October 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410103668
• ISBN-13: 978-1410103666
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,274,180 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

29 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Trollope's gentle satire wins through here., April 24, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Miss Mackenzie (Worlds Classics) (Paperback)

Anthony Trollope spends so much time doing the things that well-meaning creative writing profesors now tell one never to do--his editorial voice peppers each novel, he avoids subtle foreshadowing in favor of telling you essentially what will happen next, and he consistently drives plot towards a theme. Yet Trollope, a consummate Victorian, seems intrinsically modern whereas many more "literarily correct" modern humorists grow antique in a week or less. The secret, of course, is character, an eye and an ear for class distinctions, and a skewering wit combined with tremendous fellow-feeling for the foibles of his characters. Miss MacKenzie contains much of Trollope at his best--the title character is a beautifully observed genteel poor spinster-to-be suddenly visited with the misfortune of fortune. The author assiduously exposes flaw after flaw in Miss MacKenzie and her social milieu, and yet we like her better for the harsh light. In this world of tremendous unkindness, it is nice to remember that one can be honest without being brutal. Trollope, a writer of genial works of whimsy, brings the quiet honesty of literary fiction home safely here.

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars an overlooked small gem, May 26, 2004

By 

Margaret Johnston (Seabeck, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Miss Mackenzie (Paperback)

This is an overlooked small gem of a novel. Margaret Mackenzie is a spinster in her mid-thirties who receives a large inheritance when her brother dies and must then deal with what comes with the inheritance, including several suitors, who may or may not simply be after her money. Trollope depicts Miss Mackenzie with his usual unsparing honesty, and although in his autobiography he called her "a very unattractive old maid", her modesty, charity, and dignity endear her to the reader and make the rather everyday plot engrossing.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good for today, so-so for Trollope!, August 8, 1999

By 

LINDA LEVEN - See all my reviews

This review is from: Miss Mackenzie (Worlds Classics) (Paperback)

This book, when compared to what is written today, is excellent. Trollope is a master with words - as all readers of his works will agree. He has a tremendous command of the written word - unlike authors of today!! However, for Trollope compared to Trollope, the book is just so-so. Many of his other novels are far superior. The book concerns the trials and tribulations of Miss MacKenzie after she inherits a fortune and then looses it. We see how her friends, neighbors, and male paramours react to her as her status in life changes. It's, as all Trollope books, enjoyable, but not one of his better books.