And perhaps it is rather from an old-fashioned and time-honoured affection for its standing than from any intrinsic merits of its own that some such general acknowledgement of its ascendancy is still allowed to prevail. Take, for example, this editorial in The Jupiter newspaper in Framley Parsonage (1860) lambasting the privileges of the Church of England: “It is with difficulty enough that the Church of England maintains at the present moments that ascendancy among the religious sects of this country which it so loudly claims. (iii) Trollope is brilliant on religio n and its relationship to the state. Many Trollope women feel more emancipated, or tormented by their lack of emancipation, than their sisters in some contemporary novels. His novels boil with strong women, from the indomitable Lady Glencora to my favourite, Miss Dunstable (an heiress who stands up to men – even the all-powerful Duke of Omnium). (ii) Trollope writes perceptively about relationships and sexual politics. Great men are almost always bad men“? Trollope explains, long before Acton said it. Why did Lord Acton say “ Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. (i) The six Palliser novels, starting with Can you forgive her, are literature’s best guide to politics and power. If you haven’t discovered the novelist Anthony Trollope, you should start reading him.

Plus, he invented the letter box – and inspired my own novels. Anthony Trollope is one of the most brilliant and rewarding authors you have never heard of.

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