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A chi è rivolto
You will enjoy this if you like Victorian novels with warm humour, village society, young love tested by family pressure, and a narrator who chats with the reader about marriage and money.
Che cos’è questo libro
What would you do if you had made a promise over a Bible, and keeping it might cost the person you love most? That is the question Dr Thorne carries through this novel, published in 1858 by Anthony Trollope. It is the third of his Barsetshire books, set in a farming county where land and family name decide almost everything.
The doctor is a proud, poor bachelor in the village of Greshamsbury. He is raising his niece Mary, whose parentage he keeps secret. Across the road, a squire sinks into debt, and his wife wants their only son to marry a fortune. When the son loves Mary, two kinds of pride collide. You get love, money, an election and a warm narrator who laughs at snobs.
In questo riassunto
- 1Greshamsbury is an old house sinking into debtFree
- 2The doctor keeps a promise made over a Bible
- 3The doctor wins his place by being useful
- 4Frank asks for Mary and is told to marry money
- 5Roger Scatcherd grows rich and cannot stop drinking
- 6Courcy Castle, an election and a fortune hunter's fall
- 7Sir Roger dies and his son clings to Mary
- 8Lady Arabella fights, and Mary will not bend
- 9Birth and worth pull against each other
- 10A chatty narrator shapes how the story is told
Punto chiave 1 di 10
Greshamsbury is an old house sinking into debt
Barsetshire is a farming county where old names count for more than money made in trade. At its heart sits Greshamsbury, a Tudor house whose gates are guarded by stone pagans. Beneath them runs the family motto, Gardez Gresham. Neighbours argue whether it tells the pagans to guard the Greshams or warns everyone else to beware them.
Whatever it means, the family's strength has drained away. The squire married Lady Arabella de Courcy, sister of a powerful Whig earl, and his Tory neighbours never forgave it. He lost three costly county elections, and his wife grew sharper with every defeat. She wanted London seasons and a grand style.
By 1854 an income of fourteen thousand a year cannot cover the debts. The squire has already sold Boxall Hill, a third of his estate, to a rich Barchester man. When his son Frank comes of age, every farmer knows the squire is in trouble. An old name resting on a failing fortune sets the pressure for everything that follows.
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Who’s who
- Dr Thomas Thorne
- The proud, stubborn country doctor of Greshamsbury who raises his niece Mary and guards a promise about her birth.
- Mary Thorne
- The doctor's spirited niece, raised among the Greshams, who loves Frank yet will not trap him into a ruinous match.
- Frank Gresham
- The warm-hearted heir to a failing estate, pressed by his family to marry money, who wants only Mary.
- Squire Gresham
- Frank's kind, debt-ridden father, who wants to save the family estate without breaking his son's heart.
- Lady Arabella
- The squire's wife, an earl's daughter, who is determined that her son must marry a fortune.
- Sir Roger Scatcherd
- A railway contractor risen from stonemason, rich and powerful, who cannot stop drinking and wants to provide for his family.
- Miss Dunstable
- A rich, witty heiress, daughter of the Ointment of Lebanon, who sees through schemers and befriends Frank.
- Beatrice Gresham
- Frank's warm-hearted sister and Mary's closest friend, who is torn between loyalty to Mary and her mother's wishes.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 197,500 words
- Reading timeAbout 13 h 50 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about Dottor Thorne
What is Doctor Thorne about?
It is about a country doctor in Barsetshire who raises his illegitimate niece Mary, and about her love for Frank Gresham, the heir to a debt-ridden estate whose family insists he must marry money.
Who is Mary Thorne's father?
Mary is the daughter of Henry Thorne, the doctor's brother, and Mary Scatcherd, a stonemason's sister. The doctor raises her as his niece after her parents are lost to the scandal.
What does Gardez Gresham mean?
It is the Gresham family motto on the gates. Some say it commands the stone pagans to guard the Greshams, others that it warns neighbours to beware them. The narrator will not settle the question.
Is Doctor Thorne part of a series?
Yes, it is the third of the six Barsetshire novels, published in 1858. It tells its own complete story, so you can read it without the earlier books, though some places and people recur.
What is the main message of Doctor Thorne?
The book argues that a person's worth lies in character and loyalty, not in birth or bank balance. It also shows how family pride and money pressure can bend even kind people.
Cite this edition
Trollope, Anthony. Doctor Thorne. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/doctor-thorne.
Trollope, A. (2026). Doctor Thorne. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/doctor-thorne (Original work published 1858)
Trollope, Anthony. Doctor Thorne. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/doctor-thorne.
@book{trollope2026doctor,
author = {Trollope, Anthony},
title = {Doctor Thorne},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/doctor-thorne},
note = {First published 1858}
}
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