A review by ruthiella
Doctor Thorne by Anthony Trollope

4.0

While the author insists this book is really about Dr. Thorne (hence the title), essentially it is a love story, between Mary, the doctor’s illegitimate but well raised niece and Frank, the son of the local squire who faces bankruptcy. Frank reminded me a bit of Fred Vincey from Middlemarch who also loved a girl named Mary, although Fred actually did have to work for a living eventually. Frank and Mary's main obstacle, besides the fact that his extended family tell him constantly that he must marry money, is his mother, Lady Arabella, a consummate snob who is determined to keep Mary from Frank at all costs. In their corner, however, is the delightful Miss Dunstable (I wish there had been more of her in the book)and the ever constant Dr. Thorne.

If The Warden and Barchester Towers are satires on C of E politics, Dr. Thorne is a satire on heredity and snobbery. The ending is pretty much telegraphed from the beginning of the book, there is little suspense for such a long novel, but I loved it anyway. In keeping with the two Trollope books I have read previously, it is both very funny and very moral.