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Phineas at Bay Paperback – July 16, 2014
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“Phineas at Bay is at once an entertaining romp and a serious inquiry into how Victorian problems are also our own. It is a pleasure to read.”—Nicholas Birns, author of Understanding Anthony Powell.
Set in 1890s England, Phineas at Bay picks up where Anthony Trollope’s Palliser series left off: now two decades after the unconventional marriage of Phineas Finn, an Irish Catholic, to the Viennese Jewish widow Marie "Madame Max" Goesler.
Phineas has become an almost entirely independent member of Parliament, nominally belonging to the Liberal Party. But his independence has come at a cost. Having made no political gains, his own party no longer takes him seriously. But an awakening of his political and social conscience leads him to revitalize his political activism and become involved in the newly forming Labor Party.
Meanwhile the rivalry between Socialist Jack Chiltern and the newest member of Parliament, Savrola Vavasor, the two suitors of Phineas’s orphaned niece, Clarissa Riley, draws Phineas into becoming the maître d’arms at a violent duel.
And alongside all the other action, the beautiful Lady Elizabeth Eustace adds to the drama with her shady past and her entanglements with Jack and her ex-husband, a clergyman with a dark reputation of his own.
Scholar and lawyer John F. Wirenius sets the Victorian-era author’s pointed satire loose on today’s political and social excesses, creating a novel that can be read alone or in conjunction with Trollope’s novels.
- Print length522 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- Publication dateJuly 16, 2014
- Dimensions5.98 x 1.05 x 9.02 inches
- ISBN-101499177321
- ISBN-13978-1499177329
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About the Author
John F. Wirenius studied English literature and political science at Fordham University, graduating as valedictorian with a BA in English in 1987. He went on to study law at Columbia University as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, gaining his JD degree in 1990. He has served as an assistant corporation counsel in the New York City Law Department as well as an associate counsel for New York State United Teachers. He has also served as lead counsel on more than fifty criminal cases and tried obscenity and other freedom-of-speech cases. In addition to numerous scholarly articles, he authored the book First Amendment, First Principles: Verbal Acts and Freedom of Speech.
Wirenius's debut novel, Phineas at Bay, follows up on the Palliser novels by Anthony Trollope, creating a Victorian-era story that resonates with modern readers using satirical commentary to illuminate today's political and social excesses.
Product details
- Publisher : CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform (July 16, 2014)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 522 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1499177321
- ISBN-13 : 978-1499177329
- Item Weight : 1.52 pounds
- Dimensions : 5.98 x 1.05 x 9.02 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,820,662 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #207,405 in Historical Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author

John F. Wirenius is a native New Yorker, and a profoundly mediocre fencer (saber, for choice). He has been a lawyer for nearly 25 years, in which he has litigated over 50 criminal cases, including two appeals from the death penalty. More recently, he has been lead counsel in cases involving labor law, and civil rights and constitutional cases, including First Amendment free speech claims.
He has published a series of scholarly articles on free speech, the intersection of religion and law, and legal history in addition to his books. John's passion for literature has led him to write fiction as well as non-fiction, and his most recent work builds upon the works of the Victorian master of psychology, Anthony Trollope.
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The Phineas novels are not among my favorites by Trollope, but Wirenius introduces so many of Trollope's characters from not only the Palliser novels but also the Barchester series, The Way We Live Now, Orley Farm, etc. that it's a treat just to try to pick them all out and try to remember which ones are Trollope's, separating them from the few new ones Wirenius invents. Major characters include Plantagenet Palliser, Madame Max, Lizzie Eustace, Lady Laura, and Samuel Grantly, among many others.
I also found Phineas more likeable and appealing in this book than previously. He seems more focused in his legal and political efforts and a bit more mature. The novel is set in the 1890s and many historical and literary references are made that are fun to pick out as well.
I did feel the characters needed more development in terms of their internal worlds - I never felt the absolute misery that Trollope can sometimes show us in his characters' heads, but I was delighted by many of the characters and the plot twists. Best of all, I loved the ending. I think it is exactly how Trollope would have left Phineas had he written one more novel about him.
If you love Trollope and enjoy sequels to the classics--this is one of the best--you'll enjoy this book. If only Trollope had written it or a few zombies or vampires had been thrown in, I'd give it 5 instead of 4 stars.
I am more a Jackie Collins fan than an Anthony Trollope fan and this book has the best of both those worlds. Phineas at Bay is fast paced yet requires a dictionary. It had a good trial with a surprise witness and lots of suspense and some bloody combat. it had costumes, scenery, travel, Americans who were not stupid, lots of passionate relationships , it paid tribute to the lost art of flirting and its importance to human relationships of all ages!. And women are allowed even encouraged to age and still be sexy and loving. You don't see that everyday or even any day. These days.These are the reasons I loved this book.
If you are lucky enough to have day in bed reading and you're smart and unpretentious enough to choose a fun read that you just might learn something from you won't be sorry to choose Phineas at Bay
