7 h 43 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if a nation's proudest reform sets the date when every citizen must die?
In Anthony Trollope's The Fixed Period, John Neverbend leads Britannula, a small island nation near New Zealand. The year is 1980. His great reform promises citizens a comfortable year at a college, followed by painless death at sixty-seven and a half. He calls it protection from the misery of old age.
Then the law reaches Gabriel Crasweller, Neverbend's close friend and one of its supporters. Crasweller's daughter Eva cares deeply for her father. Jack Neverbend loves Eva and rejects his own father's faith in the plan. What looks tidy in a political argument becomes painfully personal among friends and families.
What you’ll discover
- A president certain of reason Hear Neverbend defend his ideal through a narration that reveals what he cannot see.
- Friendship under a cold law Watch an abstract promise of progress become a threat to someone the president knows.
- Love against conviction Meet Eva and Jack, whose feelings challenge the president's trust in his grand reform.
- Comedy with an uneasy edge Find humour in a narrator whose confidence makes his cold reasoning all the more unsettling.
- The limits of progress Explore the distance between holding firm principles and knowing how to treat another person.
Who will love it
For readers who love short Victorian fiction with a sharp edge, early dystopian stories, and arguments about ageing and death.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Britannula, an island built on reason
- The Fixed Period and its confident logic
- Crasweller, the friend who comes due
- Family, love and a son who disagrees
- What the satire is really about
- How Trollope tells it
Who’s who
- John NeverbendThe president of Britannula and narrator, he champions the Fixed Period and trusts reason and principle above feeling.
- Gabriel CraswellerNeverbend's wealthy friend and a leading citizen who supports the new law, even as his own turn draws near.
- Eva CraswellerCrasweller's daughter, who cares deeply for her father and is fond of Jack Neverbend.
- Jack NeverbendThe president's son, who loves Eva and does not share his father's faith in the Fixed Period.
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- Audiobook
- 7 h 43 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
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La Période fixe
by Anthony Trollope · 1882
President Neverbend plans a painless death for every citizen, but his own friend's turn draws near.
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In short
The Fixed Period is a short novel by Anthony Trollope, published in 1882, the year he died. Trollope is best known for the Barchester and Palliser novels, which are quiet studies of English clergymen and politicians.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Britannula, an island built on reason
The story opens in a future that Trollope's first readers would have found strange. It is 1980, and Britannula is a self-governing state, once a part of the British Empire. Its capital is Gladstonopolis, a name that gently teases the English politics Trollope knew so well. The people are proud, practical and fond of new ideas.
The narrator, John Neverbend, is the president. His very name tells you something. He is a man who will never bend, once he has made up his mind. His voice is calm, self-assured and often unaware of how it sounds to others.
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What is The Fixed Period about?
It is set in 1980 on Britannula, an island state, where President Neverbend introduces a law that retires citizens to a college at sixty-seven and a half and ends their lives a year later. The story follows how people react.
Is The Fixed Period a dystopian novel?
It is often called one, as it imagines a society that adopts a chilling policy. Trollope writes it as gentle satire, though, with a comic narrator, rather than as a grim warning in the style of later dystopias.
When was The Fixed Period written?
Trollope published it in 1882, the year he died. It is a late work and unlike his usual novels of English country and political life, since it is set in an imagined future.
The author
Anthony Trollope
1815–1882 · English Victorian novelist
Anthony Trollope (1815–1882) was an English novelist. He was born in London, lived in Ireland for many years, and later returned to England. He worked for the Post Office while writing novels. His books include The Warden (1855), Barchester Towers (1857), and Doctor Thorne (1858). He died in London.
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