8 h 28 minAudiobook8 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 Victorian country life, warm humour, and characters who argue with themselves. It suits anyone who likes a love story built on conscience and kindness.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A kind man takes in his friend's daughter
- Mrs Baggett guards her kingdom and her master
- A past wound makes Whittlestaff afraid to hope
- Mary is grateful but her heart is elsewhere
- A proposal is made and a week is given
- John Gordon comes home from the diamond fields
- Two men plead and Mary holds to her word
- Hampshire society takes sides over dinner
- Whittlestaff wrestles with duty and love
Who’s who
- Mr William WhittlestaffA fifty-year-old Hampshire gentleman, shy and kindly, who takes in his dead friend's daughter and finds himself in love with her.
- Mary LawrieA quiet young woman living on his kindness, loyal to her duty and still loyal to a man she has not seen for years.
- John GordonA strong, reserved young man who goes to South Africa to make his fortune so he can marry Mary.
- Mrs BaggettWhittlestaff's fierce, tearful housekeeper, who fears losing her place and is tied to a drunken husband in Portsmouth.
- Montagu BlakeA cheerful, talkative young curate who is about to marry and cannot stop telling everyone his news.
- Mr HallThe easygoing squire of Little Alresford, who has four daughters and prides himself on never having had a headache.
- Kattie ForresterBlake's bright, teasing bride-to-be, who keeps his chatter in check.
- Sergeant BaggettMrs Baggett's red-nosed, one-legged husband, who turns up drunk to claim her wages.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 8 h 28 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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An Old Man's Love
by Anthony Trollope · 1884
A fifty-year-old gentleman takes in a penniless girl, and a diamond digger walks in the very day she says yes.
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In short
What does a kind man owe the girl he has rescued, and what does she owe him? In An Old Man's Love, Anthony Trollope sets this question in a Hampshire country house.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A kind man takes in his friend's daughter
The story opens at Croker's Hall, a small house near Alresford in Hampshire. Mr William Whittlestaff, who is fifty, receives a letter from Emma King in Norwich. Mrs Lawrie has died, and her stepdaughter Mary is alone in the world.
Mary's father, Captain Patrick Lawrie, was Whittlestaff's dearest friend and died with no money. Whittlestaff once promised him that the girl would never go without. Now he walks up and down his long garden path for an hour, first swearing he will have nothing to do with the matter, then deciding to bring Mary home as if she were his own daughter. She is twenty-five, and he tells himself nobody could expect love to come into it.
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What is An Old Man's Love about?
It tells of Mr Whittlestaff, a Hampshire gentleman of fifty, who takes in a penniless young woman named Mary Lawrie and hopes to marry her. The return of her first love, John Gordon, tests everyone's sense of duty and kindness.
Who is John Gordon in An Old Man's Love?
John Gordon is a young man Mary loved in Norwich. Too poor to marry, he goes to the diamond fields at Kimberley in South Africa, grows rich and comes back to find her.
Does An Old Man's Love focus on a small cast?
Yes. A small cast and a single household sit at its centre. Visits to neighbouring homes bring the private struggle into local society.
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
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