What Did Anthony Trollope’s Mother Write?

In the 1830s a reference to the writing of Trollope would have referred not to Anthony, who did not start publishing novels until the late 1840s, but to his mother Frances. Mrs Trollope began writing at the age of 50; this was the latest in a long line of attempts to support her family. Having tried and failed to start a farm in England, she took three of her children to America to find work there. When this failed too, she returned to England and, in 1832, wrote "Domestic Manners of the Americans," which had a huge success. After this her publishers asked her to write books on several European nations too, so for some years she travelled on the Continent, researching her books. Altogether she produced over forty books including novels, and guides to Paris, Vienna and Italy. In the end she achieved the prosperity she had hoped for; and lived to see her son Anthony start his own career as a writer. She died in 1863.

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