Nina Balatka

Set in Prague, young Christian girl Nina Balatka has fallen in love with Anton Trendellsohn, the son of her father’s Jewish business partner. Deeply in love, the pair face fierce opposition to the match from their prejudiced relatives. A short story from Anthony Trollope, ‘Nina Balatka’ bears more than a passing resemblance to Shakespeare’s ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in its exploration of inter-faith love and marriage. Will there be a happier ending for Nina and Anton?

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.