Miss MacKenzie

Miss Margaret Mackenzie is a lonely young woman when she receives an inheritance after the death of her brother Walter which amounts to £ 800 a year, quite a substantial allowance in the 1860s. Subsequently Margaret moves from London to Littlebath where she takes care of her niece Susanna. Being fair and wealthy, she becomes the object of desire of three gentlemen in particular: her cousin John Ball, Mr Maguire the clergyman and Mr Rubb, junior partner in the company of her brother Tom. Margaret's destiny changes abruptly when her lawyer tells her that actually Walter's money is not hers since it was given to her before Jonathan Ball's death and that it belongs to John Ball. Mr Trollope casts a critical glance at all the intricacies of the Victorian era: money, social position, marriage and business. Nevertheless, the novel is a suspenseful family saga and the plot is so cleverly constructed that it surpasses many a story written in the 21st century.

This is an overlooked small gem of a novel. Margaret Mackenzie is a spinster in her mid-thirties who receives a large inheritance when her brother dies and must then deal with what comes with the inheritance, including several suitors, who may or may not simply be after her money. Trollope depicts Miss Mackenzie with his usual unsparing honesty, and although in his autobiography he called her "a very unattractive old maid", her modesty, charity, and dignity endear her to the reader and make the rather everyday plot engrossing.

This book, when compared to what is written today, is excellent. Trollope is a master with words - as all readers of his works will agree. He has a tremendous command of the written word - unlike authors of today!! However, for Trollope compared to Trollope, the book is just so-so. Many of his other novels are far superior. The book concerns the trials and tribulations of Miss MacKenzie after she inherits a fortune and then looses it. We see how her friends, neighbors, and male paramours react to her as her status in life changes. It's, as all Trollope books, enjoyable, but not one of his better books.

Anthony Trollope spends so much time doing the things that well-meaning creative writing profesors now tell one never to do--his editorial voice peppers each novel, he avoids subtle foreshadowing in favor of telling you essentially what will happen next, and he consistently drives plot towards a theme. Yet Trollope, a consummate Victorian, seems intrinsically modern whereas many more "literarily correct" modern humorists grow antique in a week or less. The secret, of course, is character, an eye and an ear for class distinctions, and a skewering wit combined with tremendous fellow-feeling for the foibles of his characters. Miss MacKenzie contains much of Trollope at his best--the title character is a beautifully observed genteel poor spinster-to-be suddenly visited with the misfortune of fortune. The author assiduously exposes flaw after flaw in Miss MacKenzie and her social milieu, and yet we like her better for the harsh light. In this world of tremendous unkindness, it is nice to remember that one can be honest without being brutal. Trollope, a writer of genial works of whimsy, brings the quiet honesty of literary fiction home safely here.