The Belton Estate

In this 1866 Anthony Trollope novel, heroine Clara Amedroz faces a bleak future. Her father's fortune has been squandered on her wastrel of a brother, leaving Clara destitute with no money and no inheritance to her name. Despite this, Clara finds herself caught up in a complex love-triangle between warm-hearted Will Belton and the aloof Captain Frederic Aylmer. Themes of marriage, inheritance and morality are all explored in this sometimes-overlooked Trollope classic.

Anthony Trollope (1815 – 1882) was a Victorian writer and author of 47 novels. He also wrote an autobiography, short stories and plays, travel articles, reviews and lectures. A prolific writer, he made no secret of the fact that money was his motivation for writing – an admission which raised eyebrows among his literary contemporaries at the time. The amount of works Trollope authored are testament to his belief in hard work. His first successful novel was The Warden followed by its sequel, Barchester Towers. The Chronicles of Barsetshire are perhaps his most well-known series of novels, though many of his works have been adapted for TV and radio, starring many familiar faces such as Alan Rickman, David Tennant, Bill Nighy and Tom Hollander. Alongside his literary career, Trollope also worked for some time for the Post Office and is credited with the introduction of the iconic post box to Britain. A memorial to Anthony Trollope was unveiled in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey in 1993.