8 h 28 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 8 h 28 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the love that gives you new hope asks you to set your own happiness aside?
William Whittlestaff has books, comfort, and a house run to his liking. No longer young, he expects little change. Then Mary Lawrie enters his quiet life in the English countryside, and affection unsettles his routine. Anthony Trollope's An Old Man's Love brings a settled bachelor face to face with an unexpected hope.
Mary is honest, sensible, and short of money, but her heart already holds John Gordon, who has gone abroad to seek his fortune. Security and kindness matter; so does her earlier loyalty. As Whittlestaff weighs his wishes against Mary's feelings, his outspoken housekeeper, Mrs. Baggett, has advice of her own.
What you’ll discover
- A late hope Meet a bookish bachelor whose unexpected affection disturbs the calm he has built around himself.
- A heart already pledged Follow Mary as she weighs the comfort of security against an attachment she cannot dismiss.
- Kindness under pressure Consider what generosity means when another person's happiness may cost you the thing you want.
- An outspoken presence Encounter Mrs. Baggett, a loyal housekeeper who is always ready to give her master advice.
- A quiet moral struggle Find clear, open storytelling that brings private feelings and difficult questions of fairness close.
Who will love it
You will love this book if you enjoy quiet domestic drama, comic servants, and characters who argue with their own consciences. It suits readers who like a warm narrator and a love story built from talk.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A death in Norwich sets a plan moving
- Whittlestaff carries old wounds into the house
- Mary hides a love she never spoke of
- Mary says yes and then tries to take it back
- A visitor from the diamond fields arrives
- Gordon pleads his case and a sergeant arrives
- A dinner, a last chance and a mystery journey
- Gratitude and duty are not the same as love
- Who is master, and what is manliness?
- A chatty narrator keeps the sorrow bearable
Who’s who
- William WhittlestaffA fifty-year-old gentleman of Croker's Hall, shy and kind, wounded by an old jilting, who wants Mary Lawrie for his wife.
- Mary LawrieA quiet, strong-willed orphan living on Mr Whittlestaff's charity, who has loved another man without ever speaking of it.
- John GordonA determined young man who returns from the Kimberley diamond fields to win the woman he left behind.
- Mrs BaggettMr Whittlestaff's fiercely loyal housekeeper, tied to a drunken husband, who believes a man must be master.
- Montagu BlakeA cheerful, talkative young clergyman, engaged to Kattie Forrester and eager to help bring Gordon and Mary together.
- Mr HallThe careful squire of Little Alresford, who has four daughters and once quarreled with Gordon's father over money.
- Sergeant BaggettMrs Baggett's wooden-legged husband, who turns up drunk to claim her and her wages.
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L’Amour d’un vieil homme in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
L’Amour d’un vieil homme
by Anthony Trollope · 1884
Mr Whittlestaff takes in a penniless girl, then must face what a man owes the woman he loves.
Medium level2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Mr William Whittlestaff, fifty years old, paces a garden path in Hampshire with a crumpled letter in his pocket. He swears he will have nothing to do with the girl it speaks of.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A death in Norwich sets a plan moving
A letter from his friend Emma King brings news that Mrs Lawrie has died in Norwich. Her stepdaughter Mary is alone in the world and expects to become a governess. Emma asks him to think of some future for the girl.
Mr Whittlestaff walks his garden path for an hour. He first swears he will have no part in it, then decides that Mary shall live with him as his own daughter. He is fifty and she is twenty-five, and he tells himself nobody could expect love between them. She is the child of his dearest friend, Captain Patrick Lawrie, who died penniless.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 15 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1884
- Language
- français
- Reading time
- 5 h 30 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Trollope, Anthony. An Old Man's Love. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-old-mans-love.
Trollope, A. (2026). An old man's love. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-old-mans-love (Original work published 1884)
Trollope, Anthony. An Old Man's Love. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-old-mans-love.
@book{trollope2026old,
author = {Trollope, Anthony},
title = {An Old Man's Love},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/an-old-mans-love},
note = {First published 1884}
}
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What is An Old Man's Love about?
It tells of Mr Whittlestaff, a middle-aged gentleman in Hampshire, who takes in the penniless Mary Lawrie and asks her to marry him. Then her first love, John Gordon, returns from the South African diamond fields, and all three must face what they owe each other.
Who is Mrs Baggett in An Old Man's Love?
She is Mr Whittlestaff's housekeeper, a sharp-tongued, devoted old servant born in his family's home in Portsmouth. She is married to a drunken, one-legged sergeant, and her comic speeches about duty and mastery give the book much of its humour.
What do the diamonds mean in the story?
Gordon earns his money in the Kimberley diamond fields, so the stones stand for risk, change and a rougher world. Mrs Baggett and Mr Whittlestaff contrast them with the steady government funds, which mean safety and respectability.
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.
More by Anthony Trollope
Voir tous ses livresMore like this
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