La Grande Bretèche

by Honoré de Balzac

Part of La Comédie Humaine, book 16

First published 2004

Anthony Trollope stands at the dock, eighteen months of colonial service behind him, expecting to find the England he left unchanged. Instead, he discovers a society riddled with corruption and moral bankruptcy. The Victorian writer who created the beloved Chronicles of Barsetshire and the fictional county of Basetshire now confronts a reality far darker than his imagined worlds. His prolific pen had explored political machinations, social divisions, and gender tensions in his novels, but nothing prepared him for the widespread immorality that has taken root in his absence. Trollope must navigate this transformed landscape, his writer's eye capturing the decay while his conscience demands action. The man who built his reputation on penetrating social observation now faces his greatest subject.

Genres: fiction, historical-fiction, 20th-century, 19th-century

Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking

Tropes: fish-out-of-water, social-commentary

Setting: England

Period: Victorian Era

48 pages · Paperback · Kessinger Publishing

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